The foundation of learning is reading.
Most of us think of reading as something we outgrew—a school requirement rather than the actual tool for staying curious and competent in the world. But Naval's point isn't about textbooks or assigned chapters. It's that reading is the lever that lets you learn almost anything without needing a teacher, a degree program, or permission. When you read, you're borrowing someone else's hard-won understanding and compressing years of experience into hours.
The thing that makes this especially relevant now is that we have more to read than ever, yet we're reading less deeply. We scroll, we skim, we consume fragments. But the foundation doesn't work with fragments. Real reading—following an argument, sitting with a difficult idea, letting an author reshape how you think—that's what actually rewires your brain. It's slower than a TikTok but incomparably more powerful.
The non-obvious part: reading isn't just about acquiring facts. It teaches you how to think in long form, how to hold complexity, how to distinguish between confident nonsense and genuine insight. That capability bleeds into everything else you do. You become better at your work, your relationships, your decisions, not because you memorized information, but because you learned to think like the best thinkers you've read.
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Sign inNaval Ravikant is a successful entrepreneur, investor, and author, known for his expertise in the field of technology and startup companies. He is the co-founder of AngelList and has gained popularity for his insightful thoughts on happiness, wealth, and personal development shared through his popular podcast and social media platforms.