The Alchemist Summary PDF | Paulo Coelho

Chapter by Chapter Summary of The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream

Life gets busy. Has The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho been on your reading list? Learn the key insights now.
We’re scratching the surface in The Alchemist summary. If you don’t already have the book, order it here or the audiobook for free to learn the juicy details.

Introduction

Do you have a Personal Legend? You probably do, even if you don’t know it yet.

Your Personal Legend is what you want to achieve in life. In The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho explores this theme through the mystical tale of a shepherd boy named Santiago. He thinks his desired goal is to find treasure, but after going on a long, difficult quest, he realizes his true goal, or Personal Legend, is what he learns along the way.

Since it was first published in 1988, The Alchemist has delighted and inspired millions of people around the world. Read our summary (Continue reading) to discover why.

About Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian writer who specializes in spiritually inspired novels. Coelho had a troubled childhood and rebelled against his Catholic parents’ religion. Subsequently, they committed him to a psychiatric hospital on three occasions. Coelho used this hardship and his spiritual awakening, while on his 500-mile journey to Santiago de Compostela, as inspiration for his books.

Before becoming a writer, Coelho engaged with multiple professions. He has worked as a lawyer, songwriter, actor, journalist, and theater director. The Alchemist was initially a slow seller but has grown to become the most-translated book by a living author.

Coelho lets the world around him guide his writing. His ritual is to begin writing a novel when he sees a white feather in January of an odd year.

• Save

Listen

Listen in German

🇧🇷🇪🇸🇮🇳 Listen in Portuguese, Spanish and Hindi on the StoryShots app.

StoryShot #1: Dreaming Is What Makes Life Interesting

The main character in The Alchemist is a shepherd called Santiago. The story starts with Santiago pondering the nature of his work. Santiago is close to his animals. He calls each of them by name, his schedule revolves around them, and he has conversations with them. Recently, Santiago’s conversations have been about a girl he met a year ago. He met her in the village that is the next destination on his journey.

Santiago hasn’t stopped thinking about this girl all year. She is a merchant’s daughter he met while delivering wool to a shop where she was browsing. The shop owner bought the wool from Santiago and encouraged him to return a year later. Hence, Santiago is on the way back to the village where he first met the girl.

Santiago views his shepherding life as providing him with considerable freedom. He allows his sheep to lead the way and eventually finds a new path. However, Santiago realizes this is not a real discovery. He once dreamed of traveling the world. He accepts that dreaming about what you don’t have is what makes life interesting. This is why he has been dreaming for a year about seeing this girl again.

• Save

StoryShot #2: We All Have a Personal Legend We Want to Achieve

There are two key themes in The Alchemist: “Personal Legends” and pursuing your dream.

Personal Legends

Once Santiago reaches Tarifa, his last stop before the village where his dream girl lives, he visits an old gypsy woman. This woman claims she can interpret dreams. Santiago has had a recurring dream where a child shows him the location of some treasure. However, he wakes up just before he finds out exactly where it is. The gypsy woman tells Santiago this treasure is legitimate. She explains to him that dreams are a language used by the Soul of the World to communicate with people. The woman accepts as payment one-tenth of the treasure when Santiago finds it.

Upon leaving the gypsy woman’s house, Santiago sits in the plaza to read a book. An old man comes up to him and tells him he has read that book. The man reveals himself to be Melchizedek, the king of Salem. He bestows wisdom upon Santiago. This wisdom is that the world believes fate prevents people from achieving their Personal Legend. Personal Legends are dreams that people have wanted to achieve their entire life. Just as the gypsy woman said, Melchizedek explains that Personal Legends come from the Soul of the World. However, fear and routine obscure our Personal Legend. 

Melchizedek explains to Santiago that he only appears to people who are ready to achieve their dreams. He will tell Santiago about the treasure in his dream if the boy gives him one-tenth of his sheep.

• Save

Pursuing Your Dreams

After deliberation, Santiago decides his sheep and the merchant’s daughter were merely steps on the way to his Personal Legend (i.e., the treasure). He decides to sell his flock immediately and gives Melchizedek six sheep for free. Melchizedek tells Santiago to always follow the omens and gives Santiago two stones. One stone is black and called Urim (meaning “yes”), and the other is white and called Thummim (meaning “no”). These stones will help Santiago if he struggles to understand the omens. With the money from selling his flock, Santiago buys a ticket from Tarifa to Africa and sets sail to find the treasure. 

Upon arriving in Tangiers, Santiago realizes that obtaining his Personal Legend will be more complicated than he first imagined. For starters, he does not speak Arabic. While sitting alone in a bar, a young man approaches Santiago. In Spanish, the man offers to help him get to the Egyptian pyramids where the treasure lies. However, when the young man offers to help Santiago buy a camel, he robs him of all his money. Santiago weeps with despair. He has nothing and asks the stones if Melchizedek’s blessing is still with him. The answer is yes. So, Santiago continues on his journey toward obtaining his dreams. 

Wandering the streets in search of opportunities, Santiago comes across a crystal shop struggling financially. Santiago cleans the front window, and the owner offers him a job. The owner is willing to pay Santiago enough to save up for a new flock of sheep and his passage back home. Santiago agrees and takes the job.

• Save

Personal Legends Explained

Personal Legends serve as the only means by which a person can live a satisfying life. Those who put off their Personal Legends will suffer from regret and fail to experience the wealth associated with achieving them. Additionally, following your Personal Legends will allow the world to bestow favors upon you. The novel even explains that natural elements must aim to achieve their Personal Legends. For example, alchemy involves turning metal into its own Personal Legend: gold.

StoryShot #3: Everything Happens for a Reason

After obtaining enough money to buy another flock and travel home, Santiago has a conversation with the crystal shop owner. He asks for the owner’s blessing to go home. Although the owner gives his blessing, he also tells Santiago that he knows he will not return to Spain. He says Santiago will continue to pursue his Personal Legend. Santiago accepts he is far from home and closer to the Egyptian pyramids and the treasure. He takes a chance and starts living in a caravan in the desert to search for the treasure.

While living here, he meets an Englishman in search of his own Personal Legend. Melchizedek also gave this man Urim and Thummim. Santiago realizes the series of events he has experienced have all guided him closer to his Personal Legend. Even being robbed was part of his journey toward finding the treasure.

While traveling across the desert, the Englishman talks to Santiago about the Soul of the World. He describes this as the principle that governs all things. If we have an intuition or genuinely want something, we are immersed in the Soul of the World. Santiago reads some of the Englishman’s alchemy books. He discovered that almost all famous alchemists dedicated their lives to realizing their Personal Legends. However, Santiago wants to read the world’s omens through everyday life, rather than in old books.

Rating 

We rate The Alchemist 3.9/5.

How would you rate Paulo Coelho’s book based on this summary?

The Alchemist PDF, Free Audiobook, Infographic, and Animated Summary

This was the tip of the iceberg. To dive into the details and support the author, order the book or get the audiobook for free.

Comment below and let others know what you have learned or if you have any other thoughts.
New to StoryShots? Get the PDF, audio, and animated versions of this summary and hundreds of other best-selling nonfiction books in our free top-ranking app. It’s been featured by Apple, The Guardian, the UN, and Google as one of the world’s best reading and learning apps.

Editor’s Note

This is an unofficial summary and analysis.

This article was first published in early 2021. It was revised in Dec 2023.

Related Book Summaries

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma 

Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins

The 5 Am Club by Robin Sharma

The Dip by Seth Godin

Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins

The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday

Grit by Angela Duckworth

The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz

The Mamba Mentality by Kobe Bryant

Mindset by Carol Dweck

Originals by Adam Grant

• Save