ERIC'S NOTE (ABOUT THIS BOOK)
Throughout his career, Naval has generously shared his wisdom, and millions of people around the world follow his advice on building wealth and living happily.
Naval Ravikant is an icon in Silicon Valley and startup culture around the world. He founded multiple successful companies (Epinions during the 2000 dot-com crash, AngelList in 2010). Naval is also an angel investor, betting early on companies like Uber, Twitter, Postmates, and hundreds more.
More than a financial success, Naval has been sharing his own philosophy of life and happiness, attracting readers and listeners throughout the world. Naval is broadly followed because he is a rare combination of successful and happy. After a lifetime of study and application of philosophy, economics, and wealth creation, he has proven the impact of his principles.
Today, Naval continues to build and invest in companies almost casually, in his own artistic way, while maintaining a healthy, peaceful, and balanced life. This book collects and organizes the pieces of wisdom he has shared and shows you how to achieve the same for yourself.
Naval’s life story is instructive. An introspective founder, self-taught investor, capitalist, and engineer certainly has something to teach us all.
As a first-principles thinker with no fear of speaking his truth, Naval’s thoughts are often unique and thought-provoking. His instinct for seeing through life’s veneer has changed how I see the world.
I’ve learned an enormous amount from Naval. Reading, listening, and applying his principles of wealth and happiness has given me calm confidence on my path and taught me to enjoy every moment of this journey. Closely studying his career has shown me how great things are accomplished through small, persistent steps, and how large an impact one individual can have.
I refer to his work often and recommend it to friends. Those conversations inspired me to create this book, so people can learn from his perspective whether they’re new to Naval’s ideas or have followed him the past ten years.
This book collects the wisdom shared by Naval over the past decade in his own words through Twitter, blog posts, and podcasts. With this book, you can get the benefits of a lifetime in a few hours.
I created this book as a public service. Tweets, podcasts, and interviews quickly get buried and lost. Knowledge this valuable deserves a more permanent, accessible format. That is my mission with this book.
I hope this acts as an introduction to Naval’s ideas. I’ve collected his most powerful and useful ideas in his own words, woven them into a readable thread, and organized those into sections for easy reference.
I often find myself reviewing sections of this book before making an investment or opening to the Happiness chapter if I’m feeling off. Creating this book has changed me. I feel more clarity, confidence, and peace through all aspects of life. I hope reading it will do the same for you.
The Almanack is intended as a guide to be read and consulted for specific topics. If Naval doesn’t answer your emails, I hope this book gives you the next-best advice.
This book is an introduction to Naval and dives deeply into his two most-explored topics: wealth and happiness. If you want to continue exploring Naval and his other ideas, I encourage you to check out the “Next on Naval” section at the end of this book. I’ve shared chapters that were edited out of the final book, as well as other popular resources.
Be well,
Eric