20/11/2025
His parents locked him in a psychiatric hospital for refusing to be normal. Decades later, he wrote a book in two weeks that the publisher rejected—and 150 million people proved them wrong.
Today, The Alchemist is one of the bestselling books in human history.
150 million copies sold. Translated into 80+ languages. Read by presidents, students, seekers, and dreamers on every continent.
But in 1988, when it was first published in Brazil, almost nobody bought it.
The publisher printed a small run, watched it gather dust, and dropped the book entirely.
The author—Paulo Coelho—believed in it anyway.
He found another publisher. And slowly, reader by reader, word by whispered word, The Alchemist became a phenomenon that wouldn't stop.
The story of how this book came to exist is almost as impossible as the fable it tells.
The Boy Who Wouldn't Conform
Rio de Janeiro, 1947.
Paulo Coelho was born to middle-class parents with conventional dreams: their son would become a lawyer or engineer, get a stable job, live a respectable life.
By his teens, Paulo had different plans.
He dove headfirst into Brazil's counterculture—hippie lifestyle, drugs, rock music, mysticism, rebellion against everything his parents valued.
His parents were horrified. And in 1960s Brazil, they had a solution they believed would "cure" him.
Between 1965 and 1967, Paulo's parents committed him to a psychiatric hospital. Three times.
Electroshock therapy. Medication. Confinement. All because he refused to be what they expected.
The experience was traumatic—but it didn't break him.
When Paulo finally emerged from those institutions, he was more determined than ever to live on his own terms.
The Wandering Years
Through the 1970s, Paulo pursued the bohemian life his parents had tried to destroy.
He wrote song lyrics for some of Brazil's most popular musicians, becoming a successful lyricist. He worked as a journalist. He explored mysticism, magic, alternative spirituality—everything society told him to ignore.
He tried writing fiction. His early novels went nowhere.
By 1986, at age 38, Paulo was successful enough as a lyricist but unfulfilled as a writer. Something was missing.
That's when he made the decision that would change everything: he walked the Camino de Santiago.
500 Miles to Find Himself
The Camino—a 500-mile pilgrimage across northern Spain to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela—is one of Christianity's most ancient routes. For over a thousand years, people have walked it seeking transformation, penance, clarity, or simply answers they couldn't find anywhere else.
Paulo walked it seeking... something. He wasn't sure what.
The journey was brutal. Long days through heat, rain, and exhaustion. Sleeping in pilgrim hostels. Blisters. Pain. Doubt that this was just another dead end.
But somewhere during those 500 miles, something shifted.
Paulo reconnected with a spiritual dimension he'd lost. He experienced synchronicities—moments when the universe seemed to be speaking directly to him. He felt purpose returning.
By the time he reached Santiago de Compostela, Paulo was transformed.
He wrote about the experience in The Pilgrimage (1987), which became a cult hit among spiritual seekers.
But the Camino had given him something more valuable than one book: it had given him an idea that wouldn't let go.
The Idea That Became a Book
During and after the pilgrimage, Paulo became obsessed with certain truths:
Everyone has a "Personal Legend"—a destiny they're meant to fulfill.
The universe sends signs to guide those who pursue their purpose.
The journey toward your dream matters as much as achieving it.
These weren't abstract philosophy. These were truths he'd lived walking across Spain.
Then he encountered a short story by Jorge Luis Borges—a retelling of an ancient folk tale about two dreamers.
A man dreams of treasure buried in a distant land. He journeys far to find it. There, he meets someone who dreamed of treasure buried back where the first man came from. They both realize: the treasure was always home, but they had to journey away to understand its value.
This story crystallized everything Paulo had been thinking.
He decided to write a book.
Two Weeks That Changed Everything
Paulo sat down and wrote The Alchemist in approximately two weeks.
He later said the book was "already written in his soul"—he was just transcribing what the Camino had taught him.
The story poured out: Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who dreams of treasure at the Egyptian pyramids. His journey across North Africa. The alchemist who teaches him to listen to his heart. The discovery that his treasure was back home all along—but he had to journey to the pyramids to find it.
The book was simple. Parable-like. A fable that read like ancient wisdom but was completely original.
Paulo took the manuscript to his publisher in Brazil. They published it in 1988.
It flopped.
Sales were disappointing. Reviews were mixed. The publisher, seeing no commercial future, dropped the book from their catalog.
Paulo was devastated. He'd poured his spiritual awakening, his deepest beliefs about destiny and purpose, into this book.
And it had failed.
The Persistence That Proved Everyone Wrong
But Paulo believed in The Alchemist with absolute conviction.
He found a new publisher willing to take a chance.
And then something remarkable happened: word of mouth.
One person read The Alchemist and told a friend. That friend told another. Slowly, organically, the book began spreading. Not through marketing. Not through reviews.
Through readers who felt the book had spoken directly to their souls.
By the early 1990s, The Alchemist was a phenomenon in Brazil. Then it spread to other Portuguese-speaking countries. Then Spanish translation exploded across Latin America.
In 1993, an English translation appeared. It became an international bestseller.
By the late 1990s, The Alchemist was selling millions of copies annually.
Today: over 150 million copies sold. One of the most-translated books in history. Continuously in print for over 30 years.
Presidents quote it. Teachers assign it. People give it to graduates, to friends in transition, to anyone searching for meaning.
The Message That Resonates
The book's message is deceptively simple: Follow your dreams. Listen to your heart. The universe conspires to help those who pursue their Personal Legend.
Critics sometimes dismiss it as simplistic new-age platitudes.
But millions of readers have found something profound in its pages.
Because Paulo Coelho wrote from lived experience.
He'd been institutionalized for refusing to conform. He'd walked 500 miles seeking spiritual truth. He'd experienced the synchronicities and signs he wrote about. He'd persisted with The Alchemist even after rejection—because he believed in it absolutely.
The story of The Alchemist's creation mirrors its own message perfectly:
Paulo had a dream. He faced obstacles—institutionalization, rejection, failure. He persisted. And eventually, against all odds, his book became a global phenomenon.
The Proof in 150 Million Copies
He was institutionalized for being different.
He wrote a book in two weeks about following your dreams.
The first publisher dropped it.
Now, 150 million people have read it.
That's not just a publishing success story.
That's proof that sometimes—just sometimes—when you refuse to give up on what you believe in, when you persist past rejection and failure and doubt, impossible things happen.
Paulo Coelho walked 500 miles across Spain seeking purpose.
He found it.
Then he wrote it down in two weeks.
And millions of people, walking their own journeys toward their own dreams, have found his words waiting for them—reminding them that the treasure they seek might be closer than they think, but the journey to find it changes everything.
~Old Photo Club
