Coelho argues that you cannot learn these from a book. A book can only point to the door. You must turn the knob yourself.
Unlike the fable-like clarity of The Alchemist , El Diario de un Mago is messy. The protagonist is not a shepherd with a recurring dream; he is Paulo, a real man (or a fictionalized version) who had already failed. He was a hippie, a songwriter, a prisoner, a man who had "lost the way."