Like the Flowing River is an intimate collection of Paulo Coelho's reflections and short stories, written from 1998 to 2005. These are powerful tales of living and dying, of destiny and choice, of love lost and found.Sometimes humorous, sometimes serious, but always profoUnd, this book, like all of Coelho's work, explores what it means to be truly alive.

Preface

A Day at the Mill

Prepared for Battle, But with a Few Doubts

The Way of the Bow

The Story of the Pencil

How to Climb Mountains

The Importance of a Degree

In a Bar in Tokyo

The Importance of Looking

Genghis Khan and His Falcon

Looking at Other People's Gardens

Pandora's Box

How One Thing Can Contain Everything

The Music Coming from the Chapel

The Devil's Pool

The Dead Man Wore Pyjamas

The Solitary Piece of Coal

Manuel Is an Important and Necessary Man

Manuel Is a Free Man

Manuel Goes to Paradise

In Melbourne

The Pianist in the Shopping Mall

On My Way to the Chicago Book Fair

Of Poles and Rules

The Piece of Bread That Fell Wrong Side Up

Of Books and Libraries

Prague, 1981

For the Woman Who Is All Women

A Visitor Arrives from Morocco

My Funeral

Restoring the Web

These Are My Friends

How Do We Survive?

Marked Out to Die

The Moment of Dawn

A January. Day in 2005

A Man Lying on the Ground

The Missing Brick

Raj Tells Me a Story

The Other Side of the Tower of Babel

Before a Lecture

On Elegance

Nh~ Chica of Baependi

Rebuilding the House

The Prayer That I Forgot

Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro

Living Your Own Legend

The Man Who Followed His Dreams

The Importance of the Cat in Meditation

I Can't Get In

Statutes for the New Millennium

Destroying and Rebuilding

The Warrior and Faith

In Miami Harbour

Acting on Impulse

Transitory Glory

Charity Under Threat

On Witches and Forgiveness

On Rhythm and the Road

Travelling Differently

A Fairy Tale

Brazil's Greatest Writer

The Meeting That Did Not Take Place

The Smiling Couple (London, 1977)

The Second Chance

The Australian and the Newspaper Ad

The Tears of the Desert

Rome: Isabella Returns from Nepal

The Art of the Sword

In the Blue Mountains

The Taste of Success

The Tea Ceremony

The Cloud and the Sand Dune

Norma and the Good Things

Jordan, the Dead Sea, 21 June 2003

In San Diego Harbour, California

The Art of Withdrawal

In the Midst of War

The Soldier in the Forest

In a Town in Germany

Meeting in the Dentsu Gallery

Reflections on 11 September 2001

God's Signs

Alone on the Road

The Funny Thing About Human Beings

An Around-the-World Trip After Death

Who Would Like This Twenty-Dollar Bill?

The Two Jewels

Self-Deception

The Art of Trying

The Dangers Besetting the Spiritual Search

My Father-in-law, Christiano Oiticica

Thank You, President Bush

The Intelligent Clerk

The Third Passion

The Catholic and the Muslim

Evil Wants Good to Prevail

The Law of Jante

The Old Lady in Copacabana

Remaining Open to Love

Believing in the Impossible

The Storm Approaches

Some Final Prayers