Book Review — “The Almanack of Naval Ravikant” by Eric Jorgenson

The Almanack of Naval Ravikant is a lightweight read of roughly 240 pages, although the actual text could fit into half that space. Eric Jorgenson says he assembled the book as a public service, and it’s a pull together of Naval’s tweets and interviews into a free downloadable volume. Given how much I admire Naval’s ability to compress wisdom into a few sharp sentences on Twitter, I opened this book with genuine excitement. He is one of the few people whose tweets appear as notifications on my phone.

Given the number of people who rave about this book, I am genuinely disappointed.

The book feels like a collage rather than a coherent work. No probing of Naval’s claims. No exploration of the motivations beneath the slogans. He did not even build any meaningful structure around the ideas. You see insights scattered without rhythm or progression. You know those kinds of extended blog posts made from random internet quotes held together by loose stitching? This is the book.

There is also a troubling amount of weak or careless advice. Lines like “Avoid business magazines and business classes” fall flat because the book never analyses where such views come from or when they might fail. Jorgenson warns that readers may interpret Naval’s ideas differently from their original intent, but that caveat does little to solve the problem. Many sections feel like lists of snappy platitudes and motivational clichés that shine on social media yet collapse under basic scrutiny.

That said, not everything is bad. Some insights are sound, even if they repeat familiar themes like “make your money work for you while you sleep.” (Even this, I had to roll my eyes)

I really do find Naval’s personal background interesting. Like Keanu Reeves, Oprah Winfrey, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Barack Obama, he grew up in a single-parent household. Such stories do not overturn evidence about two-parent outcomes, yet they offer encouragement for those who start life at a disadvantage.

The strongest part of the book is the reading list at the end. It points to genuinely valuable works. Matt Ridley’s “The Red Queen” is going to be my next read.

Overall, the book did little for me. The book lacks any kind of depth and rarely rises above feel-good slogans. Many readers rave about it, but for me it falls far short of its reputation.

I am still genuinely stunned at the tens of thousands of people who left 5-star review of this book on Amazon. What’s great about it?