Despite my lack of expertise in writing book reviews, I felt compelled to share my thoughts after finishing ‘The Almanack of Naval Ravikant‘ by Eric Jorgenson this weekend.
It is one of those books sprinkled with words of wisdom, without preachiness.
This book reminds me of other wisdom-filled works like Charlie Munger’s ‘Poor Charlie’s Almanack‘ and Clayton Christensen’s ‘How Will You Measure Your Life‘.
Let me be clear – this book is a collection of tweets and other thought nibbles, neatly organized by topics.
But it brings out Ravikant’s wisdom and experience shine through, offering us a fresh perspective on life.
The book is divided into 2 broad categories:
- Wealth
- Happiness
In the section on wealth, Naval delves into various aspects of financial success, including wealth creation strategies, leveraging resources effectively, choosing the right career path, developing crucial mental models, and honing decision-making skills.
He posits that happiness is a choice available to everyone, and he explores habits that foster joy, as well as methods for personal growth, self-care, and achieving inner freedom.
The book concludes with a philosophical exploration of life’s meaning and the importance of aligning one’s actions with personal values
Allow me to share some of my key takeaways from the book. These highlights only scratch the surface of the wisdom within these pages – I highly recommend grabbing a copy for yourself to fully appreciate its depth and insights!
- Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable.
- Specific knowledge cannot be taught, but it can be learned.
- Intentions don’t matter. Actions do. That’s why being ethical is hard.
- If you don’t own a piece of a business, you don’t have a path towards financial freedom.
- Earn with your mind, not your time.
- Retirement is when you stop sacrificing today for an imaginary tomorrow.
- Hard work is really overrated. How hard you work matters a lot less in the modern economy.
- You don’t get rich by spending your time to save money. You get rich by saving your time to make money.
- “Clear thinker” is a better compliment than “smart.”
- What you want is principles. You want mental models.
- Read what you love until you love to read.
- Happiness is the state when nothing is missing.
- First, you know it. Then, you understand it. Then, you can explain it. Then, you can feel it. Finally, you are it.
- The greatest superpower is the ability to change yourself.
I dabble around with a lot of books and there are many unfinished ones in my reading list. This book is one of very few I managed to finish in recent times!
Thanks, Naval for sharing your wisdom with all of us! Please keep writing…