The Almanack of Naval Ravikant

I hit the Crossword book store in my area this weekend with a fool proof plan. Leave the kids in the play area for an hour and use that time to browse the book shelves. I haven’t been there much since the Covid hit. Crossword is the one of the favourite hangout spots for me and my daughter. To my disappointment, someone had blocked the play area for their kid’s birthday celebrations. I had no other option than buying an overpriced Tea Cake at the strategically placed eatery to calm my son down. I carried him on my shoulders all the while we toured the bookshelves. Not because I care for him, which I do naturally, but he is a mini-flash. The moment his feet touches the ground he runs away at hyper-speed and I do not like to get my HIIT workout while I am not dressed for it. Our planned time at the store was cut down by half but we still managed to invest (labelling the book purchase as an expense is a blasphemy according to some bookworms) in few books.

I picked up my first hard copy that I purchased in 3 years. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant. I have seen Naval doing the rounds as a thought leader / philosopher in the internet world and I have seen many recommend this book. The book also had an appealing minimalistic front cover. So, I paid INR. 299 and picked up the book. At home, my daughter was curious about the book and started reading the contents of the front and back cover and laughed out hysterically. Apparently, there was this statement in tiny font on the inside page of the front cover:

“This book has been created as a public service. It is available for free download in pdf and e-reader versions on Navalmanack.com. Naval is not earning any money on this book. “

Facepalm moment. I assured my daughter that this book is worth the money while secretly hoping it better be. And it was. At least to me. It is more like compilations of the tweets, excerpts from blogs of Naval and his commentary on those. It is like a self-help book but for some reason this resonated with me more than other books. May be it is because Naval also has an Indian background and the philosophies overlap somehow. Just my assumption.

I really enjoyed the book and completed it in two days which is a personal record when it comes to physical books. The downside of physical book is that I was not able to highlight the sections I liked. However, the whole book is full of quotes and I would have ended up highlighting every page anyway. The sections on wealth was good but I liked the sections on health and philosophy better.

Overall, it is a good read and I would recommend this book.