One philosophical-fiction book by Paulo Coelho, that I read some time ago.

The book is a symbolic philosophical novel, that tells the story of a young man, who goes out in search of happiness in the wider world, and when he hears of an alchemist, who knows how to turn metals into gold and a recipe for the eternal elixir of youth, he wants to find a way to him.

I had heard of this book before, but I had no idea, what it might be like. It turned out to be a good and exciting novel, that I recommend reading to those, who like self-development books or also why not to read it to children.

The book tells a story of a shepherd named Santiago. The boy liked to read books and sometimes he read more exciting places to his sheep.

One day he met a charming girl, who was a merchant's daughter and as he was reading a book while waiting for the merchant, she was impressed, because most shepherds couldn't read at that time. And those, who had gone to school, would not have been shepherds. The boy told, that he had more to learn from sheep than from books. However, he could not give any answer to the girl, when asked how a shepherd could read.

Time passed, but the girl was still in his mind, and by now the boy had already devised an answer to the girl's question. The boy had grown up in a poor family, but his parents had wanted him to become a priest and an educated man, so he had learned latin and spanish and theology. But from childhood, his dream had been to get to know the world, and it seemed to him far more important, than to know about God and man's sins. One evening he had gathered his courage and told his father, that he did not want to become a priest, but that he was going to travel around the world. But since only the shepherds could go roaming around from the poor villages, the boy decided, that he would become a shepherd. His father gave him 3 gold coins he had found, for which he could buy his own sheep and advice to travel around until the boy would realize, that their own home was still the best and their women the most beautiful

So the boy did, and the book talks about his journey through Spain to Egypt and his adventures.

The book reminded me a bit of the "Little Prince" in style with its symbolism and philosophy. Definitely a good and interesting read for both - those who love novels and readers of self-development books. I listened to it in audio as i run at the same time.