Reading through this book took some effort. The writing is simple and lacking in obvious metaphor. I became bored just past the halfway mark.

Perseverance paid off, however. No, the writing did not become more colourful, nor did the plot become more intriguing. In fact, the reason that this book has satisfied so many millions of people is because of the simplicity of the truths that it presents.

The book shows that life is about the journey — and true satisfaction in life is about a single-minded journey to achieve that which we feel calling out from our deepest recesses.

Everything falls into place along this path. Be it good or bad we learn from it all and step forward towards our goals. In the end, does it matter that what we desired was in front of us from the beginning?

The Alchemist is an allegorical story of wisdom. Most of us will lie on our deathbeds before we ultimately realize or understand what Coelho tries to show us in this simple tale.

Paulo Coelho is on Twitter here and has over 60,000 followers.