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SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE - 2
Aug 24, 2008 02:30 AM 7042 Views

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Paulo Coelho is at his best in LTFR. It’s a collection of thoughts and reflections. Some of them are from his own experiences while others constitutes legends, stories and experiences which he has heard from various people he met on his journeys to various parts of this earth. Some are written by him for various occasions, as speech, while others he has written for himself. There is a story from almost all part of the world and gives us a kind of hint into the culture or history of that land.


One thing we all can learn from this book is “How a good writer can write on every aspect of life and this world, without loosing the interest and grip on the content and message.” There is something on every aspect, be it hope, love, dreams, life, spirituality, legends, way of living  and so on. This is one of my favorite book and I am writing this review after a second read, and there are many times I am going read it again and again, coz I know, no matter what I am going through in life, good or bad, this book has something to learn from, some thing to ease the pain, something to enhance the happiness.


There are in total 102 thoughts and reflections and none of them is more than 4 pages and average is 2 pages. I read them like, going to office, lets finish one before that, while making tea, waiting for someone, cooking, and at least one before sleeping. The book was first published in 2005 and has an age of 226 pages.


Now let me cover some of the thoughts which have taken special place in my life :


Book starts with an interesting Preface where PC has shared an incident from his life with us. At the age of 15 he told his mother that he wants to be a writer. So his mother asked him did he really know what it means to be a writer. So to answer her question he carried out a research and came out with his learning, Here is one of those points :


“A writer has a duty and obligation never to be understood by his own generation; convinced, as he is, that he has been born into an age of mediocrity, he believes that  being understood would mean losing of ever being considered a genius ”


How to Climb a Mountain : Various aspects that should be given attention to before climbing a mountain are covered in this one, and they are very beautifully interrelated with how to choose and achieve our goals and objectives in life.


Some of them are like : "Choose the mountain you want to climb, Learn from someone who has been there, Be prepared to go the extra mile, Be joyful when you reach the top."


Story of Manuel :  Life of a normal human being is depicted in this one. How we live our whole life doing things considering them our duties. We must do this way, must act this way. We are for our parents, for our brothers and sister, our wife or husband, our childrens, .. but hardly we give a thought to living for ourself.. and when we think about it in old age .. its too late.. Beautifully written.


Of Books and Libraries : “A book has its own journey to make, and should not be condemned to being stuck on a shelf.” How will you feel if books collected by you over years, or any other thing, are sold out as a lot to some library (better option) or some waster paper shop (worst) or just thrown away. That’s what happens to most of possessions acquired over life time, with so much passion and love,  when someone dies. These kind of feelings are captured in this one.


There is a mirror that has looked its last on my face


there is a door I have closed for the final time.


Amongst the books in my library,


There are some I will never open again.”


The Prayer that I Forgot :  A beautiful prayer.. written by PC himself which is shares with us. Here is a part of it


“Lord protect our doubts, because doubt is a way of praying. It is doubt that makes us grow bcoz’ it forces us to look fearlessly at many answers that exist to one question.. ”


Traveling  Differently : From his experiences of traveling around every corner of this world. PC provides us here with very useful points which, if we follow, can be a great help and will also make our tour Different.


Two of them are :




  1. Try to travel alone – if married – with your spouse. You will never be in a new place if you are still in old folks.




  2. A Journey is a adventure : Don’t go for places you think you must visit bcoz’ everybody visits them.. make your own places.. be a adventurer not a follower.






The Cloud and the Sand Dune : Very touching story of a young Cloud who takes the courage of living differently from other clouds and moves towards desert, falls in love with a Dune and rest is a beautiful conversation between the two. This cloud gives us a great lesson about how we should live for life. All I can say is, this one is the best pick. You will fall in love with both of  them.


The Soldier in the Forest : This one is from a soldier PC met in a French forest while practicing archerery. Questions that childrens have, we all had when we’re children are put up in this one.


Some of them are :


Why do we love some people and hate some?


If God is there in Heaven, and my mother is there too bcoz’s she died, how come God is alive?? Funny na.. rest are also amazing, reminds of our questions which we forget as we become wise… may be fools..


Alone on the Road : Life is compared to a cycle race here. How we all start with our dreams in the beginning and one by one stumble and move off the road, but some of us carry on, and at times we have to walk alone.. difficult stages of life.. but we must carry on..


”When things get tough, let us not forget that – independent of race, color, social situation, beliefs or cultures – everyone has experienced exactly the same”


Evil Wants Good to prevail : A story about how evil sometimes comes to us in the veil of goodness to misguide us or simply make us lead our life normally never let us think about our real purpose on this earth.


“In the eyes of the God, each one of those prayers made with love and repentance  would be equivalent to two hundred prayers said in ordinary, automatic way.”


Around the world Trip after Death : A beautiful story of a women who wished to travel the whole world but can’t and before dying made a wish to his son that she should be cremated and her ash be thrown in every part of the world. And it was really done, 191 countries and 50 US states. A true story.


If you have read this review completely till now there is no way you will not like this book. These are just reflections of few of the pearls and there are lot more in a sea called “Like the Flowing river”. It does not belong to any particular genre and I think everybody should read this book. It really has something for everyone.


Note :There is a reason I am writing this review on 24th of August, Well today is Paulo Coelho's Birthday. So let us all wish a very warm birthday wish to our beloved Author.. and for a long life to him so that he can write many more such books.. Happy Birthday dear Paulo Coelho..


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