Getting rich is not just about luck; Happiness is not just a trait we are born with. These aspirations may seem out of reach, but building wealth and being happy are skills we can learn. So what are these skills, and how do we learn them? What are the principles that should guide our efforts? What does progress really look like? Naval Ravikant is an entrepreneur, philosopher, and investor who has captivated the world with his principles for building wealth and creating long-term happiness. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant is a collection of Naval’s wisdom and experience from the last ten years, shared as a curation of his most insightful interviews and poignant reflections. This isn’t a how-to book, or a step-by-step gimmick. Instead, through Naval’s own words, you will learn how to walk your own unique path toward a happier, wealthier life.
Eric Jorgenson is an entrepreneur, writer, and investor. He is on the founding team of Zaarly, and has been publishing online since 2014. His blog has educated and entertained over a million readers.
Eric is on a quest to create (and eat) the perfect sandwich. He tweets at @ericjorgenson and publishes new pieces and projects on ejorgenson.com/blog
I will tell you an anecdote before going into the review. In India, IITs are the premier technical institutions with around 1% acceptance rate and .1% for the top 1000 ranks. Kids can become minor celebrities in their circles just by clearing the exam - which is no easy feat. With launch of Quora, I came across several such cringey questions related to people who got into IIT. They hadn't achieved a lot in life till then.
Coming to the book, Naval Ravikant seems like a person who has made it. He didn't have the privilege of money growing up and success has been built by hard work and persistence. But there are hundreds of thousands of such individuals in the world. There is nothing that stands out from this almanac about him. Naval's accomplishment seems to be that he "invested in Uber in 2014".
Couple this with the cringey foreword by one of Naval's friend/associate ("maybe Naval will name his kid after me if I write this foreword", you are almost immediately put off. But the book has high ratings and is free, so you soldier on.
Of course the "book" is free, since it is not a book at all. Eric Jorgenson has done a half-assed job of compiling lectures/tweets etc into a meaningful book. He didn't go deeply into the topics discussed to understand the motivations of the person saying those things, questioned him or drilled down to the core underlying values. Hence it seems more like an overtly long blog based on random things a person said on twitter. It suffers from continuity and structure.
Coming to the content itself, one of Naval's philosophy is to "productize yourself". Which actually clears the intention of why this almanac came out, he is productizing himself. Maybe he wants to build a brand of himself as a motivational speaker, personal coach, mentor or whatever.
Naval does not shy away from sensational quotes - "99% of effort is wasted". And then goes on and on about how it, the quote, is actually not true, how it is true in a specific context and then ends with "focus your effort on 1% that matters" - maybe he could have started with that.
Sadly (or fortunately?), with advent of social media platforms, this is the age of celebrity culture - where it is very easy to become minor twitter celebrities and thinking how you have become successful/wealthy in life, you become fit (in your opinion) to dole out philosophy on everything - even around happiness and keto diet - when you don't really have qualifications in that area.
I didn't get anything from the book. Rehashing well known things - "make your money work for you while you sleep" with some terms like "leverage" and "specific knowledge" does not cut for philosophy or key insights.
I cannot believe how great this book is. I was familiar with Naval through Tools of Titans, but reading this showed that he is so much more than a few pages - no matter how well written - can capture.
This book is bound to be a classic, and the fact that Eric and Naval collaborated to release this for FREE, is amazing.
For more social proof, Tim Ferriss even broke his iron rule of No Forewords to write the foreword to this book.
There is no excuse for not picking this book up. There is something in it for everyone, and it's worth reflecting over.
(The free version of this book is available online in pdf, mobi and epub file format).
This might just be the best book I've read this year.
Self-help as a genre is rightly derided these days,but this is more than that, it's pure wisdom.
This book is a compilation of some of the best tweets by Naval Ravikant, including the famous 'How to get rich' tweetstorm from 2018, and includes extra commentary from Naval. He explains his ideas and the reasoning behind them in simple,lucid text and lays out his principles of generating wealth succintly. This book packs a LOT of ideas,so I'd recommend reading it more than once to fully understand them.
The content of this book is pure gold, 5 out of 5. I have some issues with editing and organizing the Naval's insights. I feel like it could've been much easier to read if there was more effort put into connecting and ordering them right.
Web-version is full of typos, errors, and repetitions. Ebook versions seem to be a bit better (I switched half-way). Still, for every format, the structure of the book is chaotic and often feels disconnected. I know it is not supposed to be read back to back, but individual chapters and even their named smaller parts are poorly constructed.
I wish it would have been published on GitHub where a community can edit it, make it better, interlink themes, link external sources, add annotations, update it with new pieces of wisdom from Naval. This approach would make it a living thing, which seems more appropriate for the material and idea behind it.
From the broad category of "business/life self help" I feel this book is not very helpful. Naval has obviously made it, most the book is kind of jerking off to that. The practical content of the book is common sense: excercise, value your time, don't be asshole, collect wealth and so on.
The most useful part is the book recommendation list at the end.
"Getting rich is not just about luck; happiness is not just a trait we are born with. These aspirations may seem out of reach, but building wealth and being happy are skills we can learn."
This is the "the-sooner-you-read-the-better" kind of book. The meaning of Almanack here is the diary.
My Five Big Takeaways are :
1. Understand how to create wealth 2. Build judgment 3. Learn the skills of decision-making 4. Learn to love to read 5. Understand happiness is a choice The best part is Naval has provided this book for free on the Internet. You can find it on his official website. The link is www.navalmanack.com. Naval is only 47, so it’s not like he’s coming at this with 90 years or 100 years behind him. I think that is quite inspiring, that you can find that level of acceptance and peace and the ability to have fun and enjoy things, without necessarily having lived your whole life to have that perspective.
Highly Recommended.
In case you want to own a physical copy, get it here or here.
"The Almanack of Naval Ravikant is an absolute gem of a book. It is full of insightful nuggets of wisdom, practical advice, and relatable anecdotes that will make you think and inspire you to take action. One of the things I appreciated about this book is its holistic approach to wealth and happiness. It goes beyond just financial success and touches on important aspects of life such as relationships, health, and purpose. I found myself highlighting and re-reading passages as I took notes. Nodding along with many of the concepts presented.
I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to improve their situation, find true happiness, and live a more fulfilling life. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant is a must-read for anyone seeking to make positive changes in their life.
I'm not going to b*shit you, the life's philosophy of NR resonates with me a lot. Like 99% of cases. This book is nothing more or less, but the essence of this philosophy.
Don't get me wrong - it's far less unique than one could think about: there are pieces of stoicism, entrepreneurial approach to the career, healthy approach to balance (in life, in general), praise for essentialism, etc. But Ravikant is a true master in getting to the point: expressing the quintessence of what he means in an extremely convincing way, in the absolutely the fewest number of words possible. "The Almanack" is written by someone else (Eric Jorgenson), but he has managed to keep that advantage (and message) - that's a huge pro.
What I liked most (about this book) was probably the chapter about happiness - it doesn't just present a neo-stoical approach but goes with NR's own definition I like A LOT (& I can identify myself with wholeheartedly). Another thing I love is NR's classification of luck - a simple but striking mental model that is definitely worth digesting on your own.
No doubt there are some nuggets of wisdom in here. They are, unfortunately, surrounded by dense forests of platitudes and broetry-like aphorisms that render the text hard for me to enjoy. The book describes a sense of self determinism that I feel resonates well with much of the audience, but to me it seems to come across more like the age-old boomer cry "if I could do it why can't you". That is in fact, how he starts out the book "you could strip away all my wealth and I could probably get it back again".
My favorite is when he removes himself from the line of criticism because "if the exceptions are obvious then either the author is dumb or you are" - gee thanks Naval. I could go on, but maybe this book just wasn't a good personal fit given my values and the way that I perceive life.
Parsing the book here were my useful takeaways: - Read more - Meditate more - Stress less - Worry only about what you can control, or don't worry at all - Spend your time on things that matter to you - Desires lead to unhappiness - Peace > Happiness
For a 200+ page book, I took quite a while. I guess the best reason I have for this delay can be explained through Naval Ravikant's own words:
"Reading a book isn't a race—the better the book, the more slowly it should be absorbed."
Clearly, this was one of the "better" ones. My mind was left in awe at the amount of wisdom this guy has, with each page enlightening me with new insights, whether on wealth, business, meditation, or philosophy.
By virtue of the trials and tribulations he encountered in business and decision-making, he was able to develop a pragmatic yet staggeringly original outlook on life. After years of experience (and prosperity) in the game that we call life, he eventually learned that things like success or happiness are learnable skills—that anyone can learn. Here, he lays out the foundations to build just that. I admire his ability to convey dense and provocative insights with such eloquence and concision and how he never runs out of new, subversive ideas.
I can't say that I have fully internalized the full dimensions of all his nuggets of wisdom, but the ones that struck the most will definitely provide me with value as I live out my life. That being said, I plan on leaving this by my bedside for the years to come and leaf through whichever page may be significant to my life at that moment.
If you have been following Naval for the last year or so, there is nothing new here. All the concepts, once very novel and insightful, have been paraded enough on tech twitter with 100s of blogs and tweetstorms. If you are someone who has been remotely in this space and has been following content of shane parish, tim ferris et al, you have probably read all of this in some form of the other.
If not, you can find a lot of good content here. Try the free pdf, if it works for you, maybe go for it then.
Phenomenal book. Had some repetition, but generally a short and impactful read packed with principled advice. My biggest takeaways:
A. Approach to building wealth 1. Pick an industry where you can play long-term games with long-term people.
2. Play iterated games. All the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest.
3. Figure out the point of maximum leverage to actually create wealth and capture some of that created wealth.
4. Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable.
5. Apply specific knowledge, with leverage, and eventually you will get what you deserve. “All the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest.”
B. Approach to being productive 1. Invest deeply: When you find the right thing to do, when you find the right people to work with, invest deeply. Sticking with it for decades is really how you make the big returns in your relationships and in your money. So, compound interest is very important. What you’re trying to do is find the thing you can go all-in on to earn compound interest.
2. Spend more time making the big decisions: We waste our time with short-term thinking and busywork. Warren Buffett spends a year deciding and a day acting. That act lasts decades.
3. Build a personal brand: Figure out what you’re good at, figure out how to show your work, and start helping other people with it. Give it away. Pay it forward. Eventually, you'll get the benefits back manifold. Show your craft, practice your craft, and the right people will eventually find you.
4. Be patient: Great people have great outcomes. You just have to be patient. Apply specific knowledge with leverage and eventually, you will get what you deserve.
C. Cultivating Happiness 1. Make tradeoffs. Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want. Happiness is being satisfied with what you have. Success comes from dissatisfaction. Choose.
2. Priorities: Naval's number one priority is his physical health. Second, it's mental health. Third, it's spiritual health. Then, it's his family's health. Then, it's his family's wellbeing. Then, it's the rest of the world.
3. Make time for the important things. “I don’t have time” is just another way of saying “It’s not a priority.”
4. Realize that we are really far up Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and life is generally pretty good.
The thought that such a mind exists, and we can know about it, learn from it, grow from it: absolutely brilliant.
Important takeaways (for me, for now)
1. Health is key. Physical, mental, spiritual. 2. Anger may or may not serve others, but definitely disserves you. 3. Read, read, read. "Reading (learning) is the ultimate meta-skill and can be traded for anything else." Also reread. A 100 reread books is better than a 1000 "just read" ones. 4. Focus on one - then nurture & perfect. 5. The journey from "Freedom to" to "freedom from".
Against popular opinions, I absolutely hated the book. It has no structure to it and the author struggles to connect the insights. It just seemed as if random texts from the internet were thrown haphazardly between the covers and called a book. It’s not a book. Of course it has to be freely available since a person in their right mind won’t buy it. As many low rating reviews pointed out, this is one of those books that you wish people didn’t have recommended you to read. It didn’t add any value to me and after completing about 70-80 pages each new page I read became more and more annoying with how the book is structured (or the lack of it). I hardly stop reading a book halfway, but this one made me do it. I would suggest not to waste your time on this one. There are many more books in the same genre that are way more insightful and valuable for your time. Do yourself a favor and skip this one.
Wonderful read. Really needed someone to remind me to stop being poor and get rich. Rehash of corporate/self-help platitudes, I've no idea why this is considered wisdom these days.
Paraphrasing Charlie Munger's book title set a high bar. Naval Ravikant is one of the most lucid thinkers of Silicon Valley and I really enjoy reading his tweets and listening to him in interviews (the one with Tim Ferriss is a good example). But this is not a traditional book because he didn’t write it but it’s a compilation of his work made by Eric Jorgenson and illustrated by Jack Butcher. I follow them on Twitter from before and like their work so I was really interested in learning which was the result of this combined effort.
Probably for someone who is not used to Naval’s thought this book is going to be much breathtaking. In my case it was re-reading tweets and interviews I am familiar with. Despite that it is short and easy to read and ideal for skimming to find ideas and interesting points of view. Jorgenson did a good job of presenting the material as something homogeneous but sometimes it might feel repetitive or the criteria for grouping thoughts could be different in some cases.
Some authors are door openers and I think Naval is one of them. This book is a great introduction to get into many topics (spirituality, ancient wisdom, science fiction). Naval Recommended Reading section is a gem and probably the part I liked more.
Increíble. Uno de los mejores libros que he leído y uno de los autores que más van a influenciarme a partir de hoy mismo. Lo he escuchado en audiolibro y antes de terminar ya he comprado la versión en Kindle para tenerla guardada. No descarto comprar el libro físico. Lo necesito cerca. Siempre.
Do you know those books that were recommended to you and you wish they weren’t? This is one of them. It follows the typical Tim Ferriss narrative, acting as if every choppy piece of advice is some nugget of enlightenment. Here’s my advice, pass on this book.
3.4!前50%讲wealth,比较成功学,对我这种不想挣钱 只想普普通通、平静躺平的人不友好,真让人焦虑🥲🥲“They can train you to do something, they can train a computer to replace you” he said.😿😿
后50%讲happiness,友好一些,但因为是tweets和合集,比较细碎。很喜欢的一个论点是:we all have three options: change it, accept it or leave it. 可能只选最重要和可实现的事情来“change”,and work for it。但是要be aware,当我们选择“change” something,we create a desire,and we will suffer until it is changes。所以,accept是通往happiness的桥梁。另外,meditation大法好👍
(My initial rating of the book was 4/5, but the fact that I could receive the information condensed in a book format and for free from navalmanack.com , has compelled me to increase the rating to 5) The Almanack of Naval Ravikant is a collection of Naval’s famous tweetstorms, podcasts and interviews. Naval Ravikant is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist (Twitter, Uber, Clubhouse are some of the companies where he has been the early-stage investor)
The book is divided into two sections: Wealth and Happiness. A reader of philosophy and spirituality may not find anything new in the chapters of peace and happiness. While it was good to read how Naval is trying to implement those wisdom into his life, I derived a lot of value from the first section where he talks about the mindset he has applied for creating wealth and the principles that guide his work life.
To quote Naval’s words, “ If you’re a perpetual learning machine, you will never be out of options for how to make money. You can always see what’s coming up in society, what the value is, where the demand is, and you can learn to come up to speed.”
There are some great maxims in the book. I also loved what Tim Ferris wrote in the foreword: “ pay attention…but don’t simply parrot his words. Follow his advice…but only if it holds up after scrutiny and stress testing in your own life. Consider everything…but take nothing as gospel.”
I didn’t finish this book. It became increasingly annoying to read on account of the author’s self-aggrandising writing style. There was also very little support for the author’s principles besides “This is what I believe and I’m successful so it must be true”. I have no doubt that he is a smart man, but expressing his thinking (admittedly it was actually him) does not seem to be his strong suit.
All of Naval's greatest wisdom compiled into one book. Naval has the outstanding skill of explaining complex skills in a very easy way. Probably because as he says himself, he focuses on the basics and really tries to understand everything at a very fundamental level.
I absolutely loved this book and will definitely re-read it in the future!
О ЧЕМ КНИГА: Мысли о бизнесе и жизни от одного из самых известных и уважаемых венчурных инвесторов - основателя Angel List Навала Равиканта. Автор собрал твиты и высказывания Равиканта и объединил их по темам. Книга состоит из коротких глав с ответами на самые важные вопросы, которые нас волновали всегда: финансовый и бизнес успех, счастье, здоровье и осознанность. Книгу можно открывать на любой главе и каждый раз вы найдете в мыслях Равиканта для себя что то новое и ценное. Уверен, что буду перечитывать эту работу еще много раз.
ГЛАВНАЯ МЫСЛЬ КНИГИ: Если осознанно и системно подходить к вопросу построения счастливой жизни, то в долгую мы обязательно добьемся результата, который хотим.
ЗАЧЕМ ЧИТАТЬ ЭТУ КНИГУ? Чтобы выстроить свою личную жизненную систему.
МЫСЛИ И ВЫВОДЫ ИЗ КНИГИ: - У каждого человека свой ответ на действительно Большие Вопросы. Что применительно к одному, нельзя применять к другому человеку. Поэтому у каждого свой ответ на вопрос про Счастье, Успех в бизнесе, Семейное счастье и тп. Глупо брать и копировать для себя чужие ответы.
- Счастье- это естественное состояние для человека с самого начала его жизни. Оно просто исчезает постепенно, когда вы начинаете понимать, что вам чего то не хватает в жизни. Сначала хороших оценок в школе, потом высокой зарплаты, отпуска, квартиры, машины и тп. Задача - вернуться к этому естественному состоянию.
- Мы постоянно думаем о том, что нам чего то не хватает. А счастье - это состояние когда мы понимаем, что у нас всё и так есть. Это отсутствие желания внешних вещей.
- Самые большие деньги в бизнесе зарабатываются в моменты, когда вы считаете, что вы правы, а все вокруг неправы.
- Настало время когда личный бренд может стоить дороже целой компании и зарабатывать больше чем компания. Сейчас время, когда доверия к людям больше чем к компаниям. И продвигать себя стало намного проще.
- Если ты понимаешь, что не хочешь работать с этим человеком всю жизнь, то не работай с ним ни одного дня.
- Надо жить по системе. Понимать свои сильные стороны и помещать себя в то окружение и в те ситуации, где вероятность успеха именно для меня максимальная.
- Хорошая система должна повышать вероятность, что у принятых мною решений будет позитивный результат.
- Каждый человек уникален и обладает навыками и ресурсами, которые характерны именно для него.
ЧТО Я БУДУ ПРИМЕНЯТЬ: Буду иск��ть только те бизнес-проекты, где именно мои навыки, опыт и личные качества будут ценны и востребованы.
This is compilation of some of the pithy and wise quotations from Naval Ravikant. He talks about life, learning, work, success, happiness, reading, valuing time, etc. among other things. If someone has been following Naval for some time on Twitter and listening to his podcasts, there is nothing new here. For those new to Naval, this is a very good starting point, though a lot has been left out of this book. He is a great thinker and an entrepreneur, may be techno-philosopher is the right word. I do not agree with everything he says, but most of it. His best piece of advice: “You’re not going to get rich renting out your time. You must own equity—a piece of business—to gain your financial freedom.” and "All the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest."