The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson.

BOOK REVIEWS BY BINOD

BINOD’S RATING: 9/10

Naval is a legend and this small book bursts with insight in almost every page hence I couldn’t stop at my usual 15/20 top points.

The top 40 takeaways (direct quotes):

1. Making money is not something you do- it’s a skill you learn.

2. Intentions don’t matter- actions do.

3. You’ll be never get rich by renting out your time.

4. Earn with your mind, not your time.

5. I’d love to paid purely for my judgment, not for any work.

6. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

7. The closer you want to get to me, the better your values have to be.

8. Amazing how many confuse wealth & wisdom.

9. Judgement is underrated.

10. The moment of suffering is a moment of truth.

11. Very smart people tend to be weird since they insist on thinking everything through for themselves.

12. What you feel tells you nothing about the facts- it merely tells you something about your estimate of the facts.

13. To be honest, speak without identity.

14. There are hundreds of thousands of careers available to you.

15. Read a lot.

16. The means of learning are abundant- it’s the desire to learn that is scarce.

17. If you’ve two equal choices, take the path more painful in the short term.

18. Put truth above social approval.

19. To think clearly, understand the basics.

20. When solving problems, the older the problem, the older the solution.

21. The three big ones in life are wealth, health & happiness. We pursue them in that order but their importance is reverse.

22. Happiness is not about positive thoughts but the absence of desire.

23. Happiness is being satisfied. Success comes from dissatisfaction. Choose.

24. How much of the day is spent doing things out of obligation than out of interest?

25. To make an original contribution you’ve to be irrationally obsessed.

26. When everyone is sick, we no longer consider it a disease.

27. What habit most positively impacts my life? My daily morning workout.

28. The greatest superpower is the ability to change yourself.

29. Much of finding great relationships is finding people where your values line up.

30. Arm yourself with specific knowledge.

31. Specific knowledge is often highly technical or creative. It cannot be outsourced or automated.

32. Specific knowledge is found by pursuing your passion & genuine curiosity rather than what’s hot right now.

33. Specific knowledge is knowledge you cannot be trained for.

34. The internet has massively broadened the possible space of careers. Most haven’t figured this out yet.

35. Foundations are super important. Basic arithmetic & numeracy are way more important in life than doing calculus.

36. All the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships or knowledge, come from compound interest.

37. If you don’t own a piece of a business, you don’t have a path towards financial freedom.

38. If they can train you to do it, then eventually they’ll train a computer to do it.

39. Learn to sell, learn to build. If you can do both you’ll be unstoppable.

40. Spend more time making the big decisions- where you live, who you’re with & what you do.

Must read.