The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness
by
Eric Jorgenson
This book was presented to me by a well-wisher who I consider a very smart and practical person – it was intended I think as a kind of advice and guidance book when I had gone to them in a time of feeling a bit overwhelmed by challenges in the personal sphere. To give you a gist of the books content and aims:
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.
It was… alright.
Prior to this, I admit I had never heard of Mr. Ravikant or Mr. Jorgenson but I am glad I was able to read this book for the most part. It is full of pragmatic and very real-world-applicable ideas and concepts and is in a lot of ways a reasonable set of perspectives on a wide array of things in life including how to understand the difference between being rich and being wealthy and what are the kinds of things you may want to consider aiming for in your life and lifestyle and why – all from the point of view of stability in life, having goals of personal interest and more that I daresay we all could benefit from studying and pondering.
The man thinks clearly and in an interesting way and I did largely agree with what he said but (a) some of it was not exactly rocket science and (b) it was not always something viable for an average person to be able to follow through on – this book is great but its ideal reader is someone who is either extraordinarily aspirational or someone who already has certain ducks lined up because otherwise achieving and implementing some of the concepts into your life and finances, etc, doesn’t seem doable or practical to me.
BUT as a book that shows you a way of thinking, it’s worth checking out. Better by far than most of the nonsense I’ve seen flood self-help sections.
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