Mr. Bykovski is a worker from Homer's father's supply office, who supplied Homer and his friends with the materials they needed. Jake gave the boys some knowledge about rockets, along with suggestions about how they could improve. At the same time, they come across many obstacles. First, the townspeople humiliated them for having a dream that would never come true. Homer's father, the principal of the high school, and others opposed them. Though they never gave up. One day, they were accused of setting a forest on fire by a lost rocket. Homer and his friends were very upset after hearing this. Their parents were ashamed of them. For a very long time there was no more advancement on rockets for the boys because Homer was expelled from school and had to work down in the mines to help his family meet ends.

It was about that time that Mr. Bykovski died in a coal shaft at the mine after being ordered down there by Homer's father as punishment for helping Homer building his rockets. Homer felt very guilty, but after giving it a lot of thought, he decided that he did not belong in the mine, leading a futile life. After working diligently, he found out it was not possible for the rocket that the boys had created to have caused the fire in the woods and found the culprit to be a flare instead. For this, they were all relieved of blame. The principal of the school for the first time realized how intelligent Homer truly was and allowed him to reenroll, so that he could represent the school at the national science fair. Since only one person could go, the rocket boys decided Homer would be the best fit for the trip.

Once he was there, someone vandalized the display presenting the rockets Homer and the rocket boys had created, stealing most of the equipment. He had to phone home in order to get his father to end a strike and make new supplies. Their science project won the nationwide science fair, and all the rocket boys were given scholarships to attend college and escape the poor coalmining town like they had all wanted to. They had dreamed big and become successful, after overcoming many obstacles. Homer, after graduating college, became an engineer at NASA.

We enjoyed this book because it relates to the lives of normal people like us. It shows that with hard work and determination, dreams that seem impossible can be reached. The book was very interesting and dramatic, so it was easy to stay amused while reading it. All in all, it was a joy to read. Also, it was based on a true story which was nice as well, knowing that it wasn't just made up, it actually happened. It proves that impossible things can happen not only just for people in books. We would recommend this story to anyone, especially students who have their sight and dreams set high, but can't seem to reach their goals. This book could serve as the necessary inspiration for people to reach out and do amazing things, just like Homer, working hard to leave his sad life in a mining town to becoming an influential NASA rocket engineer.

4 years back when a friend of mine recommended me to go for the book, I thought of reading that book but did not; all credit goes to my laziness! Funniest part is, out of the inspiration and excitement I saw with my friend who had read the book, I presented “The Alchemist” to my fiancée, even before knowing the content; Best part being it was my first gift. Now, let us come out of my flashback to the flashing present.

After we got married, during one of my conquests against pests at home, I found this treasure - “The Alchemist”. May be, the bookish part of my soul knew what “The Alchemist” was all about and looked like it had been waiting for long to get me to the treasure.

However, I was laughing deep inside my heart that I'm not going to read the book with the same enthusiasm I rescued it. Once I started reading the first few pages of “The Alchemist”, I felt a mix of emotions intensifying inside me, that I just couldn't stop reading the book.

Hats off to Paul Coelho! “The Alchemist” is a brilliant masterpiece in Writing. The author, I must say, has handled the subject matter “With Care”. There was not a single second when I felt bored, or I never got exhausted by the subject matter which talks of the most beautiful things of life - Love, Change, Courage and Destiny. The credit goes to the author for having explained the “so-called” complex things, with ease and excitement.

I started realizing slowly that I was getting absorbed into the values, the book “preached”. If not for the way the values have been presented by Paul Coelho, the book would have got confined to the theologists and then of course who can forgot the pests ;-).

Now let me jot down few of the many valuables which I learnt from “The Alchemist”.

• Who else other than you better knows yourself?!?!
• Figure out precisely, what is your goal before you even try to achieve it. “The Alchemist” puts it this way - “Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.”
• Once you start your journey towards your goal, never ever give up, till you achieve it
• The “so-called” obstacles which you face en-route your journey are not really “Obstacles”; Let us perceive them as “Change” and welcome them with a difference and make the most of them
• When you really yearn to achieve something, not just “You”, but the entire “Universe” conspires in helping you achieve it
• Universe speaks to you in form of Omens. So learn to recognize Omens and follow them.
• This World teaches you many things - Only if you observe and listen to it 
• Cherish your Past and Live in the Present; Future will bend on to you
• Eat when it's time to eat. And move along when it's time to move along.
• Love is the only language which is understood by every thing (yes, I said “Thing”) and which binds the Universe. How else do you communicate with your puppy pet?  Here is a small excerpt from “The Alchemist” - “The boy approached her to ask about the alchemist. At that moment, it seemed to him that time stood still, and the Soul of the World surged within him. When he looked into her dark eyes, and saw that her lips were poised between a laugh and silence, he learned the most important part of the language that the entire world spoke-the language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their heart. It was love.”

Having jotted down what I have learnt, doesn't mean that this is all about the book. “The Alchemist” is an interesting journey which imbibes values of life. I assure you of the feeling that a world traveler gets when he visits a very interesting place on earth. I would like to insist on the fact that it is not one of those books which “tells” about values of life. “The Alchemist” makes you live through its pages and when you have completed reading the last word of the book, you would be overwhelmed with joy and excitement and would, indeed, have a different outlook towards life.

Happy reading “The Alchemist”!

In an age when many can't see the way forward Ian Fraser sees great possibility for the church in the future. In the book he argues that the whole people of God have a ministry that has often been hindered by the hierarchies of the church. Real church comes from the bottom up as people interact with God by wrestling with scripture themselves.

He includes many examples from across the world of how communities do theology starting with where they are. Whilst working in Geneva he visited many base communities across the world. The decline in the numbers of ordained ministers should be liberating for the church as they have in many instances inhibited the growth of the laity. There are no hierarchies of Christians, but an equality under Jesus and every Christian can be a theologian as they try to find Christ's will for their circumstances.

The book is a stimulating read but for those of us in the Methodist tradition it is not as radical as it may be for Presbyterians or Catholics. The book could have been better edited as some off theme asides remain in the text and it contains critical swipes at both Billy Graham and now Pope Ratzinger.