The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
This one is on the production list — the three-minute video isn't out yet. Want it sooner? Tell us: hello@distilshelf.com with "The Almanack of Naval Ravikant" in the subject.
What is The Almanack of Naval Ravikant about?
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant is Eric Jorgenson's curated collection of the investor and AngelList founder's interviews, tweets, and essays on wealth and happiness. Its core claims: wealth comes from equity, specific knowledge, and leverage rather than renting out your time, and happiness is a trainable skill built on acceptance, presence, and freedom from envy.
Key ideas from The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
Wealth Needs Leverage
Selling hours cannot make you wealthy because inputs and outputs stay linked. Leverage breaks the link: capital, people, and especially the permissionless kinds, code and media, which work for you while you sleep.
Specific Knowledge
Pursue knowledge that feels like play to you but looks like work to others, found by following genuine curiosity. It cannot be taught in school or hired away, which is exactly what makes it valuable.
Happiness Is a Skill
Naval treats happiness as a choice and a practice, not a condition to be met: reduce desires rather than multiply achievements, since every desire is a contract to be unhappy until fulfilled.
Lines worth keeping
- You will never get rich renting out your time, no matter how impressive the hourly rate.
- A desire is a contract you sign to be unhappy until you get what you want.
Is The Almanack of Naval Ravikant worth reading?
Yes, and it is free online, which tells you about the author's incentives. The wealth section is the densest compression of startup-era career advice in print. The happiness half is thinner, repackaging Buddhism and Stoicism, and the aphoristic format means ideas are asserted, never argued. Read it twice, slowly.
Eric Jorgenson · 2020 · Money & Wealth · Distilshelf editorial · Updated August 2026