The Alchemist - A book that can change your life

I am a member of the India Leadership Network on Linkedin, which held an interesting discussion recently about Which Book has changed your life. This discussion saw an enormous amount of participation, and many people mentioned the book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. This got me interested in the book, so I went through the book and was really moved by it.
It is a simple and interesting story of a boy who goes after his dreams, but it leaves you with very strong lessons, such as the following:

• The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better.
• Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him.
• People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to achieve them.
• Love never keeps a man from pursuing his destiny. If he abandons that pursuit, it's because it wasn't true love .
• Most people see the world as a threatening place, and, because they do, the world turns out, indeed, to be a threatening place.

And finally, the most powerful message in the book that is repeated often is When you really desire something, all the universe conspires to help you to realize your dream, which reminds me of the popular dialog from the Hindi movie "Om Shanti Om":

इतनी शिद्दत से मैंने तुम्हे पाने की कोशिश की है
कि हर ज़र्रे ने मुझे तुमसे मिलाने की साजिश की है