Mental stimulation

I read two books on my trip to California... The Richest Man in Babylon and The Alchemist. The Richest Man in Babylon is an old financial advice book that can be boiled down to save at least 10% of what you make to pay yourself. Then take that money and use it to make more money. Simple right? It explains this concept in different variations through the telling of fictional tales of people from Babylon during its glory days. Where did it get Babylon? RICH... then destroyed. It gives the concept within the first few pages and then pounds you over the head with it again and again. Mostly I stuck with it because I found it on the bookshelf at my parents house with a note from my grandfather and grandmother to my parents in 1976. Now that I have read it, I think that I can honestly declare that none of my family has ever read the book or followed its theme.

Everyone has read The Alchemist so no need to repeat the theme. I was struck by one passage that bears repeating. It is shortly after the boy watches the hawks fight and thinks of it as an omen. It is on page 101 of my version... "He knew that any given thing on the face of the earth could reveal the history of all things. One could open a book to any page, or look at a person's hand; one could turn a card, or watch the flight of the birds... whatever the thing observed, one could find a connection with his experience of the moment. Actually, it wasn't that those things, in themselves, revealed anything at all; it was just that people, looking at what was occurring around them, could find a means of penetration to the Soul of the World." If I were to have written it, it would say something like... 'Actually, it wasn't that those things, in themselves, revealed anything at all; it was just that people, looking at what was occurring around them, could find a means of looking backward, seeing forward, and piecing together the story about to unfold before their eyes.'

While it is mentally stimulating to read, both books left me a little blah. Is it too much to ask for a new message? I guess that's what I get for reading old books.