This book is a gift. It is one of 1 million which has been given in the UK & Ireland as part of World Book Night 2012 to spread the joy and love of reading. We are glad that you are now part of this great book’s journey, hope that you enjoy reading it and, once you have done so, passing it on to someone else who might enjoy reading it too.
World Book Night 2012 is all about introducing new readers to books and we’d ask that you please share this book with someone who does not read regularly and help inspire in them a love of books. When you pass it on, ask the next reader to record their own thoughts on this book by visiting www.worldbooknight.org and entering the unique identifying number.

I have this book! I was having a coffee earlier in Café Nero on Clayton Street. There's a bookbox there where I often leave books. I saw this had been left in it so I had a look. Inside it says that it was given to Michael Teasdale at Blaydon Library (not far from here). It also has what looked to me like a BCID. No mention of BookCrossing but I wrote down the number so I could check it out when I got home. Then I though better of it and have brought the book home with me to Heaton. Very pleased to have caught this. What a shame Mr Teasdale hasn't journalled it.

I read this a couple of years ago and found it a diverting little fantasy.

It's perhaps spirituality-lite in the sense that it doesn't cover the full gamut of human experience. It's simply saying that you should follow your heart. It doesn't deal at all with what to do if your heart's just told you to kill a whole load of people and now you're feeling that twinge of guilt - but then I don't think that kind of thing is within it's remit.

My main problems with it are threefold.

In a couple of places it doesn't hold true to it's own inner laws.
Some of its premises are simply factually inaccurate.
If this is a symbolic novel them Coelho needs to make it clearer exactly what some of the things in it are supposed to represent.

I'm not sure why people have found it lifechanging. Where they wandering around wanting to find buried treasure and it was only one they'd read this that it occurred to them to start digging? It may be of course that we are losing something in translation. If you read a modern rendering of Chaucer it's rubbish but the originals are stunning.

If you want spirituality read Gibran's The Prophet. If you want allegory read Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. If you want symbolism read Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.

If you have just found this free book and want a fun, easygoing and rather sweet little read that'll make you think a bit, then look no further.

I left this in the bookcase.

Took book off the obcz shelf in camel and artichoke pub in london yesterday.Looked at book and thought I have read this before and didn't think much of it oh well I will take it anyway it's only when I got on train that I looked closely at book then realised it was a world book night book cheered me up.First world book night book I have found still waiting for my wbn books I put out to get journaled least I now know these do get journaled.Somebody will like this book even if I didn't.

On bench outside nr entrance