Wikipedia off by 42 Million
Apparently not all mistakes on Wikipedia are minor. The allegorical novel The Alchemist, by the Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, has sold twenty-three million copies worldwide, not sixty-five million, as was recently proclaimed on Wikipedia. It exaggerated by forty-two million.
. . . much of the story is about a shepherd boy’s travels far from his homeland; he returns to find his purpose fulfilled in his own country. In the nonfiction book Live Pterosaurs in America, by Jonathan Whitcomb, only a little is about the author’s travel to Papua New Guinea; he returns to find a possibility that his purpose may be fulfilled in his own country.
Book Applause Review of The Alchemist
The great majority of reviewers on Amazon.com give The Alchemist five out of five stars. Before quoting parts of some of the most favorable and unfavorable ones, I’ll relate my own experience. I did not feel transported into another world, which is what I enjoy about fantasies, but this allegorical novel by Paulo Coelho is meant to help transport readers along the journey of life in the real world, when they are not reading anything. Judging by the worldwide popularity of The Alchemist, I believe that it is succeeding.