Free Book: The Alchemist

I just finished downloading a new book to my Ipod --- thanks to SimpleDollar for letting me know about this freebie!! Here's what he has to say about the book:

Over the last few years, about twenty different people have recommended that I
read The
Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, but I’ve been avoiding it largely because of so
many other things to read. Well, now you can get it for free as an unabridged
audiobook, perfect for listening to on a long road trip. Just fire up iTunes,
visit the music store, search for “Paulo Coelho The Alchemist” and download it
for free (until July 14). I downloaded it and am saving it for an upcoming road
trip, where it’ll provide a worthwhile listen.

So off to Itunes I went --- you knew I couldn't pass up a freebie like this --- and now the book is sitting in my Itunes folder awaiting its deposit into my Ipod. But of course, I did some checking as to what I was getting here (you knew that, didn't you?)
Here's what Amazon had to say about it:

Like the one-time bestseller Jonathan
Livingston Seagull, The Alchemist presents a simple fable, based on simple
truths and places it in a highly unique situation. And though we may sniff a
bestselling formula, it is certainly not a new one: even the ancient tribal
storytellers knew that this is the most successful method of entertaining an
audience while slipping in a lesson or two. Brazilian storyteller Paulo Coehlo
introduces Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who one night dreams of a
distant treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. And so he's off: leaving Spain to
literally follow his dream.
Along the way he meets many spiritual
messengers, who come in unassuming forms such as a camel driver and a well-read
Englishman. In one of the Englishman's books, Santiago first learns about the
alchemists--men who believed that if a metal were heated for many years, it
would free itself of all its individual properties, and what was left would be
the "Soul of the World." Of course he does eventually meet an alchemist, and the
ensuing student-teacher relationship clarifies much of the boy's misguided
agenda, while also emboldening him to stay true to his dreams. "My heart is
afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy confides to the alchemist one night
as they look up at a moonless night.
"Tell your heart that the fear of
suffering is worse than the suffering itself," the alchemist replies. "And that
no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every
second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity."

You can even access Paul Coehlo's blog.
This sounds like it will be an interesting listen for our upcoming road trip to Northern Maine.