The Almanack of Naval Ravikant

Welcome to my The Almanack of Naval Ravikant book summary!

One-Sentence-Summary: Wisdom for life in bite-size pieces from Naval Ravikant.

I’ve finished reading The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson.

booboo real-time book rating: ★★★★★ (percentage of books with this rating: 11%)

Most Valuable Section: Run Uphill

“If you’re evenly split on a difficult decision, take the path more painful in the short term.” (p. 112)

This entire section is worth the price of the book. When given two decisions, take the one resulting in short-term pain because that leads to long-term gain.

By default, your ego will opt for short-term gain (ie not doing something difficult). Don’t introduce yourself to that pretty girl because she’s too far away or walking too fast, she’s too young or too old, too thin or too fat, etc., says your ego. Avoiding short-term pain results in long-term pain (loneliness or marrying the wrong woman).

Working out is difficult in the short-term. Reading a book above your level is difficult because you’re working at the limit of your mental abilities and it’s like a workout for your brain.

This blog will contain both my summary and review of the book The Almanack of Naval Ravikant.

Part 1: Wealth

“Retirement is when you stop sacrificing today for an imaginary tomorrow.” (p. 78)

“The smaller you can make your ego, the less conditioned you can make your reactions, the less desires you can have about the outcome you want, the easier it will be to see the reality.” (p. 97)

“You don’t get rich by spending your time to save money. You get rich by saving your time to make money.” (p. 94)

“Praise specifically, criticize generally. I try to follow this. I don’t always follow it, but I think I follow it enough to have made a difference in my life. / If you have a criticism of someone, then don’t criticize the person- criticize the general approach or criticize the class of activities. If you have to praise somebody, then always try and find the person who is the best example of what you’re praising and praise the person, specifically. ” (p. 105)

“Almost everything in your house, in your workplace, and on the street used to be technology at one point in time. There was a time when oil was technology that made J.D. Rockefeller rich.” (p. 38) “Once something works, it’s not longer technology.” (p. 38)

“My definition of wisdom is knowing the long-term consequences of your actions. Widcome applied to external problems is judgment.” (p. 94)

“If you find yourself creating a spreadsheet for a decision with a list of yes’s and no’s, pros and cons, checks and balances, why this is good or bad..forget it. If you cannot decide, the answer is no.” (p. 112)

“Whenever you can in life, optimize for independence rather than pay.” (p. 60)

“To the extent money buys freedom, it’s great. But to the extend it makes me less free, which is definitely does at some level as well, I don’t like it.” (p. 80)

As I read the book, you will find my in-progress The Almanack of Naval Ravikant review and book summary notes below.

“If you can’t rederive concepts from the basics as you need them, you’re lost. You’re just memorizing.” (p. 96)

You are reading my book review and summary by Eric Jorgenson. Be sure to check out my digital bookshelf for 100+ book summaries.

Part 2: Happiness

“An emotion is our evolved biology predicting the future impact of a current event. In modern settings, it’s usually exaggerated or wrong.” (p. 168) Humans are terrible at predicting the future. I can barely predict how much time in advance to be at the airport.

“There’s a friend of mine, a Persian guy named Behzad. He just loves life, and he has no time for anybody who is not happy. / If you ask Behzad what’s his secret? He’ll just look up and say, “Stop asking why and start saying wow.” (p. 148, emphasis mine)

“Any moment where you’re not having a great time, when you’re not really happy, you’re not doing anyone any favors. It’s not like your unhappiness makes them better off somehow. All you’re doing is wasting this incredibly small and precious time you have on this Earth. Keeping death on the forefront and not denying it is very important.” (p. 154)

“When you’re young, you have time. You have health, but you have no money. When you’re middle-aged, you have money and you have health, but you have no time. When you’re old, you have money and you have time, but you have no health. So the trifecta is trying to get all three at once.” (p. 138)

“The world just reflects your own feelings back at you.” (p. 149) Affirmations.

“In any situation in life, you always have three choices: you can change it, you can accept it, or you can leave it. / If you want to change it, then it is a desire. It will cause you suffering until you successfully change it. So don’t pick too many of those. Pick one big desire in your life at any given time to give yourself purpose and motivation.” (p. 151)

“..happiness is not about positive thoughts. It’s not about negative thoughts. It’s about the absence of desire, especially the absence of desire for external things.” (p. 129)

“Happiness is what’s there when you remove the sense that something is missing in your life.” (p. 131)

“..most of our suffering comes form avoidance.” (p. 169)

“Happiness is being satisfied with what you have. / Success comes from dissatisfaction. Choose.” (p. 139)

“..another hack I use for minor annoyances. When they happen, a part of me will instantly react negatively. But I’ve learned to mentally ask myself, “What is the positive of this situation?..Even if you can’t come up with something positive, you can say, ‘Well, the Universe is going to teach me something now. Now I get to listen and learn.'” (p. 153)

“‘I don’t have time’ is just another ay of saying ‘It’s not a priority.'” (p. 165)

“If you can’t see yourself working with someone for life, don’t work with them for a day.” (p. 148)

“Science is ,t some, the study of truth. It is the only true discipline because it makes falsifiable predictions. It actually changes the world. Applied science becomes technology, and technology is that separates us from the animal and allows ut to have things like cell phones, houses, cars, heart, and electricity.” (p. 183)

Did you know I’m an author? I wrote four books on real estate investing, travel, and language learning.

How to Get Smarter

“Read the greats in math, science, nad philosophy.” (p. 118)

“..hard sciences are a solid foundation. Microeconomics is a solid foundation.” (p. 120)

“..you want to learn macroeconomics, first read Adam Smith, read von Misis, or read Hayek.” (p. 120)

Thanks for visiting and thanks to Eric Jorgenson for writing The Almanack of Naval Ravikant!

Date Started: Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Date Finished: April, 2025 (~30 days)