This is one of the books that is highly recommended by a lot of people.
It is a compilation of thoughts shared by Naval Ravikant on the topics of wealth, happiness, and purpose. His tweets have a lot of wisdom and he has this uncanny ability to convey valuable insights in such simple words.
The author does a neat job of compiling Naval's thoughts that were shared in the form of tweets, podcasts, and interviews.
I found the first half of the book that focuses on Wealth a lot more engaging. Many thoughts on how to build wealth, especially the idea of building specific knowledge and using leverage were insightful.
A few thoughts that struck a chord with me:
"Understand ethical wealth creation is possible. If you secretly despise wealth, it will elude you."
"Most of life is a search for who and what needs you the most."
"Escape competition through authenticity."
"Earn with your mind, not your time."
"Retirement is when you stop sacrificing today for an imaginary tomorrow. When today is complete, in and of itself, you're retired."
"Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want."
As I wrapped up the book this morning, I had mixed feelings.
Did I like this book? Yes, of course!
Will I rank it as one of my top 30 favorite books? Maybe not.
If I had read this book a few years ago, I might have resonated with it a lot more strongly. But having read some fabulous philosophical, self-help, and spiritual books in the past 3-4 years, I felt this one lacked the much-needed depth. It briefly touched upon many aspects - health, meditation, discipline, freedom, etc. And each topic in itself requires a far deeper dive.
Also, as a person who loves structure and order - be it in books, workshops, or courses, I felt this book could have been structured better. At times, the thoughts felt so random and didn't connect coherently.
This book is ideal for people in their 20s or for those who are new to reading philosophy or self-help books.
As Naval himself says in this book, "different books speak to different people", I urge you to not decide based on my review. It may resonate with you more strongly than it did for me.