Dude's Book Club discussion

As I read "The Alchemist", I tried to focus on two questions; 1) "How does this tale speak to the idea of a Mamba Mentality?" and 2) "What is the author telling the reader(s)?". What I came to realize about Santiago's adventure was an answer to both of those questions. Here you have a boy who is confronted with the decision of going after your dreams or goals or remaining comfortable. To limit the spoilers, I'll just say the boy has to make this decision at least thrice, throughout his adventure. I think its important to understand that - although its unlikely any of us will be drawn into an adventourous, magical treasure hunt - our quest towards personal goals, we will have to overcome obstacles, roadblocks and even moreso our own human nature to stay comfy in order to acheive what weve set our minds on. Time waits for no man, but persistence and resilency can be the left and right feet that can get anyone wherever it is they set out to get. Kobe Bryant's Mamba Mentality and Santiago's story share that idea of complete focus; being totally immersed and driven to pursuing your destiny without fear. Whether its a fear of losing comfort, of losing time or just losing period, losses are an unfortunate byproduct of trying. Moral of the story, don't lose focus on what you want to acheive. Don't set yourself up to have regrets. Get after it, whatever it is, dont look back and give it all you have. What are your takeaways from this classic novel? Do you think it shares any similarities to the Mamba Mentality?

I think there's a difference between Kobe Bryant's pursuit of his goals and those of Santiago. Santiago gets sidetracked again and again. The crystal merchant and Fatima produce distractions that nearly derail Santiago's personal journey to accomplish his greatest desire. Little things happen to Santiago that refocus his journey, but I would stop short of saying he never loses focus. I think one way to reconcile this difference would be to suggest that the moral of the story is that one should preserve and protect personal dreams and never let them die.

You know, I hadnt considered that difference until now; but on second thought you're right on. I will say this though, one could view those distractions as obstacles themselves. Anything that's taking your focus from your goals in other words. In Kobe Bryant's Mamba Mentality book he talks about his pursuit of greatness, describing how in order to be great you have to sacrifice time with your family, opportunities, etc. So to bring that back to the alchemist, Santiago's obstacles can't be just limited to desert marauders and other physical obstacles, but those obstacles of distraction as well. Being derailed from his journey by the thief and falling into comfort working in the crystal shop was a long distracting obstacle and falling in love with Fatima was a distracting obstacle as well; so to actually acheive the goal of finding his treasure (acheiving greatness) he had to sacrifice those things. I agree 100% with you because like I said you made me look deeper into the story and the obstacles/distractions he faced. Kobe's greatest desire was to be great; before he met his wife, before he had children, before he was a megastar with a million distractions he set out to be great. I think Santiago displayed a strand of what Mamba Mentality is about by sacrificing his great job and time with his love Fatima to get after his initial goal. I hope I make sense. Even if you're distracted by overall great things such as love or a great job, those are still obstacles in the perspective of your goal. Just like the crystal maker lost focus on his goal of visiting Mecca in his youth, he got comfortable with his business and lost the fire to make it happen.

P.S. I want to add a huge thank you to adding life to the book club!!! Its not a book club without dialogue, up to this point it's just been me posting & inviting members. So forget Santiago, you, Joe Moss are the real MVP here!