Hey, everyone. I was going to start this episode with some jokes making fun of the book. Then I found out some things about the backstory that made me feel like a real tool. But to take you on my journey, I'm still going to say the jokes. Today's book is The Alchemist by Paolo Coelio, which changed my friend's life, but which I think of as the book version of a cat poster. So today I'm going to try to not say stuff like,

what if you could read a placebo pill?

I'm Kellyn Erskine. I'm a comic, a father, and as an American,

every time that I saw the phrase Philosopher's Stone in this book,

I replaced it with Sorcerer's Stone. Isn't that crazy, though, with the first

edition of Harry Potter in the United States that when Penguin picked it up from J.K. Rowling, they're like,

we're going to change it to Sorcerer's Stone because nobody here is going to know what a philosopher's

stone is. And it's like, no, I don't think you know what that is. They probably knew that American kids would see it and be like, I don't want to read about no, Socrates. I read it as a kid and I had no idea what the elixir of life was. But as an adult, did you already know the connection between Elixir of Life and

Philosopher's Stone? Right. And so maybe that's a fair point with children. But yeah, my first

experience with this was when I was 26. And at that point, yes, mortality had started to hit me. So I had

already done my own personal research.

The Alchemist is a book about following your dreams no matter what.

And this is the book file.

Jewel 1205 said,

I tried reading the Grapes of Wrath when I was 26 for fun.

I couldn't get past page four, feeling guilt until now. The only way that Dave got past page four is by listening to it

at a hundred miles an hour. And even then barely. Finally, our next book is, and then there were

none. And it's a murder mystery, so you'll enjoy it a

lot more if you've read the book by next week. All right, and without further ado, here are four

lessons that we took from The Alchemist. Oh, Alchemista. I speak Portuguese. I'm kidding. I've

forgotten most of it. All right, Lesson 1. Context is everything.

I read this book and its main message is to follow your dreams, and it repeats that many times.

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