Principles

Eszter reviewed Principles by Ray Dalio

Review of 'Principles' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

I stopped reading this book about 20% in when he had bold statements like that the impact on society is measured by money (NGOs, marginalized groups whose credit was taken, underpaid healthcare workers, anyone?). Also the parts I read went on with highlighting multiple times his (monetary) success and how these principles helped him. The content I skimmed through sent similar to ones found in other self-optimization books (set an ambitious goal, work for it, fail, try harder, etc). The author also did not acknowledge his privilege of growing up as a white male in one of the richest societies world wide. His chances of getting really successful are way higher by birth than by people with less privilege and are thus not really applicable.

fjordic reviewed Principles by Ray Dalio

Review of 'Principles' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

There’s a lot of good information in this book. I appreciate how clearly it is structured, with a granular table of contents for each section and deep-level headings within chapters.

The book is written as an insight into what works for the author, as well as a sort of handbook for the author’s company, Bridgewater. It covers everything from the author’s personal principles, to the work principles that have served him well over the years.

I didn’t connect with this book. There weren’t really any “aha!” or “oh, wow, that’s neat!” moments while reading it. Most of what I read just made sense. There were a few interesting takeaways, like treating processes as machines and constantly evaluating them. I’m not sure if I am not at the right life/professional stage for this book – some of it could have been more interesting back when I was a consultant. Ultimately, I’ll …

There’s a lot of good information in this book. I appreciate how clearly it is structured, with a granular table of contents for each section and deep-level headings within chapters.

The book is written as an insight into what works for the author, as well as a sort of handbook for the author’s company, Bridgewater. It covers everything from the author’s personal principles, to the work principles that have served him well over the years.

I didn’t connect with this book. There weren’t really any “aha!” or “oh, wow, that’s neat!” moments while reading it. Most of what I read just made sense. There were a few interesting takeaways, like treating processes as machines and constantly evaluating them. I’m not sure if I am not at the right life/professional stage for this book – some of it could have been more interesting back when I was a consultant. Ultimately, I’ll probably treat this as a sort of handbook that I can refer to for breaking down problems and how to directly tackle issues.

As for who I’d recommend this to — I think anyone interested in strategy, management, but also those who are looking at being more direct with themselves.