MANILA, Philippines?Paulo Coelho?s ?The Alchemist? is about the adventures we all take in life and the realizations we pick up along the way. It offers a lot of lessons. You learn about your own existence in this world. You learn about being you. You learn about striving and fulfilling your goals and doing your best to attain them, which he accomplished in his own life. While ?The Alchemist? is very spiritual, my favorite Coelho book, ?Eleven Minutes,? is more about the real world. ?Eleven Minutes? tells the story of a prostitute who traveled from Puerto Rico to the United States.