Get Your Free Audiobook
-
Principles
- Life and Work
- Narrated by: Ray Dalio, Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Categories: Business & Careers, Management & Leadership
Non-member price: $39.48
People who bought this also bought...
-
The Intelligent Investor Rev Ed.
- By: Benjamin Graham
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The greatest investment advisor of the 20th century, Benjamin Graham taught and inspired people worldwide. Graham's philosophy of "value investing" - which shields investors from substantial error and teaches them to develop long-term strategies - has made The Intelligent Investor the stock market Bible ever since its original publication in 1949.
-
-
Deep, thorough, insightful, intelligent, dry
- By Edward on 03-01-2018
-
The Warren Buffett Way
- 3rd Edition
- By: Robert Hagstrom
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Warren Buffett remains one of the most sought-after and watched figures in business today. He has become a billionaire and investment sage by buying chunks of companies and holding onto them, managing them as businesses, and eventually reaping huge profits for himself and investors in Berkshire Hathaway. The first two editions of The Warren Buffett Way gave investors their first in-depth look at the innovative investment and business strategies behind the spectacular success of living legend Warren E. Buffett.
-
-
Insightful and lots of take away learnings
- By Genoa Foods on 22-01-2019
-
Summary of Principles: Life and Work
- By Ray Dalio
- By: In a Nutshell Publishings
- Narrated by: David Margittai
- Length: 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his book, Ray Dalio shares the unconventional principles he's developed, refined, and used over the past 40 years to create unique results in both life and business - and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve his or her goals. This audiobook summary allows you to skip to the nuggets of wisdom and actionable content in a very easily absorbed way, including key takeaways at the end of each chapter.
-
-
Straight to the point
- By Kristian on 04-09-2020
-
Never Split the Difference
- Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It
- By: Chris Voss, Tahl Raz
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After a stint policing the rough streets of Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Voss joined the FBI, where his career as a kidnapping negotiator brought him face-to-face with bank robbers, gang leaders and terrorists. Never Split the Difference takes you inside his world of high-stakes negotiations, revealing the nine key principles that helped Voss and his colleagues succeed when it mattered the most - when people’s lives were at stake.
-
-
Great Info. shit voice
- By Anonymous User on 27-09-2019
-
Start with Why
- How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action (Int'l Edit.)
- By: Simon Sinek
- Narrated by: Simon Sinek
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their successes over and over? People like Martin Luther King, Jr.; Steve Jobs; and the Wright Brothers might have little in common, but they all started with why. Their natural ability to start with why enabled them to inspire those around them and to achieve remarkable things.
-
-
Don't waste your time
- By clinton on 14-03-2016
-
The Psychology of Money
- Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness
- By: Morgan Housel
- Narrated by: Chris Hill
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Money - investing, personal finance, and business decisions - is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do. But in the real world people don’t make financial decisions on a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinner table, or in a meeting room, where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together. In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money.
-
-
Good Balanced Book
- By Anonymous User on 19-09-2020
-
The Intelligent Investor Rev Ed.
- By: Benjamin Graham
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The greatest investment advisor of the 20th century, Benjamin Graham taught and inspired people worldwide. Graham's philosophy of "value investing" - which shields investors from substantial error and teaches them to develop long-term strategies - has made The Intelligent Investor the stock market Bible ever since its original publication in 1949.
-
-
Deep, thorough, insightful, intelligent, dry
- By Edward on 03-01-2018
-
The Warren Buffett Way
- 3rd Edition
- By: Robert Hagstrom
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Warren Buffett remains one of the most sought-after and watched figures in business today. He has become a billionaire and investment sage by buying chunks of companies and holding onto them, managing them as businesses, and eventually reaping huge profits for himself and investors in Berkshire Hathaway. The first two editions of The Warren Buffett Way gave investors their first in-depth look at the innovative investment and business strategies behind the spectacular success of living legend Warren E. Buffett.
-
-
Insightful and lots of take away learnings
- By Genoa Foods on 22-01-2019
-
Summary of Principles: Life and Work
- By Ray Dalio
- By: In a Nutshell Publishings
- Narrated by: David Margittai
- Length: 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his book, Ray Dalio shares the unconventional principles he's developed, refined, and used over the past 40 years to create unique results in both life and business - and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve his or her goals. This audiobook summary allows you to skip to the nuggets of wisdom and actionable content in a very easily absorbed way, including key takeaways at the end of each chapter.
-
-
Straight to the point
- By Kristian on 04-09-2020
-
Never Split the Difference
- Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It
- By: Chris Voss, Tahl Raz
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After a stint policing the rough streets of Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Voss joined the FBI, where his career as a kidnapping negotiator brought him face-to-face with bank robbers, gang leaders and terrorists. Never Split the Difference takes you inside his world of high-stakes negotiations, revealing the nine key principles that helped Voss and his colleagues succeed when it mattered the most - when people’s lives were at stake.
-
-
Great Info. shit voice
- By Anonymous User on 27-09-2019
-
Start with Why
- How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action (Int'l Edit.)
- By: Simon Sinek
- Narrated by: Simon Sinek
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their successes over and over? People like Martin Luther King, Jr.; Steve Jobs; and the Wright Brothers might have little in common, but they all started with why. Their natural ability to start with why enabled them to inspire those around them and to achieve remarkable things.
-
-
Don't waste your time
- By clinton on 14-03-2016
-
The Psychology of Money
- Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness
- By: Morgan Housel
- Narrated by: Chris Hill
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Money - investing, personal finance, and business decisions - is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do. But in the real world people don’t make financial decisions on a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinner table, or in a meeting room, where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together. In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money.
-
-
Good Balanced Book
- By Anonymous User on 19-09-2020
-
Unshakeable
- Your Financial Freedom Playbook
- By: Tony Robbins
- Narrated by: Tony Robbins, Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After interviewing 50 of the world's greatest financial minds and penning the number-one New York Times best seller Money: Master the Game, Tony Robbins returns with a step-by-step playbook, taking you on a journey to transform your financial life and accelerate your path to financial freedom. No matter your salary, your stage of life, or when you started, this book will provide the tools to help you achieve your financial goals more rapidly than you ever thought possible.
-
-
Useless for Australians
- By Chris on 20-03-2017
-
Atomic Habits
- An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones
- By: James Clear
- Narrated by: James Clear
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A revolutionary system to get one per cent better every day. People think when you want to change your life, you need to think big. But world-renowned habits expert James Clear has discovered another way. He knows that real change comes from the compound effect of hundreds of small decisions – doing two push-ups a day, waking up five minutes early, or holding a single short phone call. He calls them atomic habits.
-
-
physical copy would be more helpful with this one
- By Anonymous User on 20-02-2019
-
Think and Grow Rich
- By: Napoleon Hill
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Think and Grow Rich is the number-one inspirational and motivational classic for individuals who are interested in furthering their lives and reaching their goals by learning from important figures in history. The text read in this audiobook is the original 1937 edition written by Napoleon Hill and inspired by Andrew Carnegie - and while it has often been reproduced, no updated version has ever been able to compete with the original.
-
-
Awesome!!
- By Amazon Customer on 23-01-2017
-
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing
- The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns, 10th Anniversary Edition
- By: John C. Bogle
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Little Book of Common Sense Investing is the classic guide to getting smart about the market. Legendary mutual fund pioneer John C. Bogle reveals his key to getting more out of investing: low-cost index funds. Bogle describes the simplest and most effective investment strategy for building wealth over the long term: buy and hold, at very low cost, a mutual fund that tracks a broad stock market Index such as the S&P 500.
-
-
Best book on stock market investing
- By Anand Kumar Singh on 04-05-2018
-
Thinking, Fast and Slow
- By: Daniel Kahneman
- Narrated by: Patrick Egan
- Length: 20 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman takes us on a ground-breaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think and make choices. One system is fast, intuitive and emotional; the other is slower, more deliberative and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities-and also the faults and biases-of fast thinking and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behaviour.
-
-
Hard to listen but good content so far.
- By Diego on 04-05-2016
-
Good to Great
- By: Jim Collins
- Narrated by: Jim Collins
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After a five-year research project, Jim Collins concludes that good to great can and does happen. In this audiobook, he uncovers the underlying variables that enable any type of organisation to make the leap from good to great while other organisations remain only good. Rigorously supported by evidence, his findings are surprising - at times even shocking - to the modern mind. Good to Great achieves a rare distinction: a management book full of vital ideas that reads as well as a fast-paced novel.
-
-
This book is good but not great
- By Anonymous User on 23-02-2021
-
Influence
- The Psychology of Persuasion
- By: Robert B. Cialdini
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Influence, the classic book on persuasion, explains the psychology of why people say yes - and how to apply these understandings. Dr. Robert Cialdini is the seminal expert in the rapidly expanding field of influence and persuasion. His 35 years of rigorous, evidence-based research, along with a three-year program of study on what moves people to change behavior, has resulted in this highly acclaimed book. You'll learn the six universal principles, how to use them to become a skilled persuader - and how to defend yourself against them.
-
-
Dont buy this book if you are interested in facts
- By completeaerogeek on 25-02-2017
-
Greenlights
- By: Matthew McConaughey
- Narrated by: Matthew McConaughey
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
I've been in this life for 50 years, been trying to work out its riddle for 42, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last 35. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.
-
-
Seems like a Whole load of bull
- By Andrew on 09-12-2020
-
Can't Hurt Me
- Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds
- By: David Goggins
- Narrated by: David Goggins, Adam Skolnick
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare - poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a US Armed Forces icon and one of the world's top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller, he went on to set records in numerous endurance events.
-
-
Amazing, heart wrenching, inspiring true story
- By gary c compton on 07-01-2019
-
Tribe of Mentors
- Short Life Advice from the Best in the World
- By: Tim Ferriss
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith, Ray Porter, Tim Ferriss, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tim Ferriss, the number-one New York Times best-selling author of The 4-Hour Workweek, shares the ultimate choose-your-own-adventure book - a compilation of tools, tactics, and habits from 130+ of the world's top performers. From iconic entrepreneurs to elite athletes, from artists to billionaire investors, their short profiles can help you answer life's most challenging questions, achieve extraordinary results, and transform your life.
-
-
A book of cliches
- By Rob on 18-06-2020
-
Shoe Dog
- A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
- By: Phil Knight
- Narrated by: Norbert Leo Butz, Phil Knight - introduction
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company's early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world's most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.
-
-
- By Anonymous User on 17-04-2018
-
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
- Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
- By: Ben Horowitz
- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley’s most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, offers essential advice on building and running a startup--practical wisdom for managing the toughest problems business school doesn’t cover, based on his popular ben’s blog. While many people talk about how great it is to start a business, very few are honest about how difficult it is to run one.
-
-
The truth about building a business
- By Stew Glynn on 28-11-2017
Publisher's Summary
Ray Dalio, one of the world's most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he's developed, refined, and used over the past 40 years to create unique results in both life and business - and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.
In 1975, Ray Dalio founded an investment firm, Bridgewater Associates, out of his two-bedroom apartment in New York City. Forty years later Bridgewater has made more money for its clients than any other hedge fund in history and grown into the fifth most important private company in the United States, according to Fortune magazine. Dalio himself has been named to Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Along the way Dalio discovered a set of unique principles that have led to Bridgewater's exceptionally effective culture, which he describes as "an idea meritocracy that strives to achieve meaningful work and meaningful relationships through radical transparency". It is these principles, and not anything special about Dalio - who grew up an ordinary kid in a middle-class Long Island neighborhood - that he believes are the reason behind his success.
In Principles, Dalio shares what he's learned over the course of his remarkable career. He argues that life, management, economics, and investing can all be systemized into rules and understood like machines. The book's hundreds of practical lessons, which are built around his cornerstones of "radical truth" and "radical transparency", include Dalio laying out the most effective ways for individuals and organizations to make decisions, approach challenges, and build strong teams. He also describes the innovative tools the firm uses to bring an idea meritocracy to life, such as creating "baseball cards" for all employees that distill their strengths and weaknesses and employing computerized decision-making systems to make believability-weighted decisions. While the book brims with novel ideas for organizations and institutions, Principles also offers a clear, straightforward approach to decision making that Dalio believes anyone can apply, no matter what they're seeking to achieve.
Here, from a man who has been called both "the Steve Jobs of investing" and "the philosopher king of the financial universe" (CIO magazine), is a rare opportunity to gain proven advice unlike anything you'll find in the conventional business press.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
More from the same
What listeners say about Principles
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 匿名
- 23-01-2019
good for business owners
really good if you are looking to setup a business with 20-20,000 employees. I personally felt it was a bit culty and didn't like it.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robin Köhler
- 06-12-2018
Overhyped
Great attempt to distil underlying principles, unfortunately surprisingly irrelevant outside of this kind of organisational structure and area of business.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Prophetmines
- 23-01-2018
Management consultant soup, not for investors
If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?
A small business growing into a medium size business may appreciate the exhausting list of principles.
Would you ever listen to anything by Ray Dalio again?
If he releases his investing principles, as promised, I'd be very interested. Most buyers would be shocked to hear that this 'investing great' does not write much about investing in this very long book.
How did the narrator detract from the book?
Ray Dalio narrates half the book but a backup narrator is left to churn through a lot of the repetitive sounding chapters.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Disappointing because Ray Dalio has presented his organisational principles and held back on his investing strategies. He posits that to emulate his investing success, others should consider following his work principles. This is most likely an illusion of causality. It is more likely a coincidence that he has been wildly successful in picking market moves as well as instituted a certain type of management, not because of it.
Any additional comments?
Ray Dalio trumpets radical transparency and openness to feedback which is why i don't feel insubordinate in labelling his manuscript a misguided and futile contribution. Ray, you're a legend because of your investing, not your management. Just read your mixed Glassdoor reviews.
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Melissa H.
- 21-09-2017
AMAZING BOOK
This book was awesome. Great to hear and listen to someone that has had great financial success talk about principles. I would love to be in Ray Dalio inner circle. So much wisdom and knowledge that you can learn from. I'm developing my own principles now while also noting down Rays. Awesome book and many thanks for writing this gem.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 匿名
- 07-02-2018
Too lengthy, internal code for BridgeWater's staff
The book can be cut to one-tenth in volume without losing much detail.
The gist of the book is about how the author sees his organizstion as a machine with people as its parts. The principles given in this regard are blueprints without much delving into reasoning. Mostly useful as a code of conduct and practice for BridgeWater people.
I expected much more from this book.
13 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- sashko
- 26-09-2017
Complicated data subsets
Would you try another book written by Ray Dalio or narrated by Ray Dalio and Jeremy Bobb ?
Maybe if it was about his trading
You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?
The five steps in achieving success are good
Any additional comments?
Overall its just too complicated. There are five goals....or is it seven.....or is it ten....each of them has subset bits of info ie goal 1.1, with then further subset info ie goal 1.1a, then further ie goal 1.1a,1-24.
I ended up getting the kindle book so I could keep track of it all. That was just as complicated only now I could see the full extent of it.
For those who can approach life like an algorithmic trading plan, this book is for you; it's a kind of life algorithm, which, if you can implement it, guarantees success.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nick Lozanovski
- 11-03-2021
content is rich and dense, a lot to take in
there is so much value in this book it is unquantifiable. a life of deep thinking and implementation has been condensed into this book. amazing
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 25-02-2021
Excellent
Loved it but shame Ray didn't finish narrating it. Not all of the principles suit me but it's definitely inspired me to refine my own version of this
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Angee
- 22-02-2021
Good
Good mentoring book. Reader articulate and clear. Excellent life principles. Work principles excellent. Worth the buy.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Steve Munford
- 04-02-2021
Usefull Information To Apply
Some great info to apply to different areas of life. Tools to use when making decisions.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Patrick Eberle
- 30-06-2018
Idea-meritocracy/Principles Reference
This work is a reference to Ray Dalio's principals & a brief history of how he created them to get where he is now.
I throughly enjoyed the first 5 hours of this book. Most everything after seemed redundant. So much so, that Ray often sites the same example for the same points over and over again. These instances took value away from this book's readability and message.
This book is not very clear that it serves as more of a reference and that it is intended to be two reference volumes combined. Albeit, the title's subscript mentions Work & Life. This work reads more like a dictionary after you remove the first few hours of Dalio's life story.
Besides your ability to create a drinking game from the number of times Ray states, "Idea-meritocracy", "Radical Truthfulness", "Believability", & each time he retells you about starting Bridgewater, you will find helpful advice on this book. I have listed general themes below
Ray could've summarized this book into less than a 10 hr read and kept the same quality in the 16 hr behemoth of reiderations. See my recommendation on his YouTube video below. 30 min.
Overall:
This book poses interesting ideas on how to improve life and business results. Obviously Bridgewater stands as a shining example of the success from Ray's points. I find that this melds well with Thinking Fast & Thinking Slow as well as many other jobs on how we think and make decisions. It makes our circle of knowledge a little bit wider on how to meet our goals/be successful. I am not sure I would recommend this book, but I believe it does actively challenge you to improve yourself and your processes in life and business.
What to take away:
Principles are useful for helping us get what we want out of life. They help guide us to meet our goals. You could argue they are algorithms that make us the best we want to be when we follow them.
We can use a 5 step plan to adjust our learn from our mistakes and become better, thus updating ourselves or our Principles.
It's best to write these principles down.
It's best to take the opinion of the whole to make decisions, rather than to think your opinion holds more weight. Seek out experts that are more "Believable" than you and weight their advice higher in their strengths.
Ray's YouTube videos are a greater & FREE synopsis of this book that cuts everything down to 30 minutes. I'd highly recommend reviewing that first of you're interested in this book.
186 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Belle Ho
- 16-11-2017
Insightful but repetitive
I listened to the entire book to understand the context of the principles. However that led me to become easily bored by the constant repetition of the words "idea maritocracy" and "radical honesty". I would suggest skipping to the second portion of the book when the author explains the life and work principles.
63 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Dr. Scott K. Moffat
- 30-06-2018
Could have been much shorter
Slow in topic and performance. I had to listen to it on 2.0x. Some of this is very interesting, but overall it feels rather verbose and repetitive. I understood from the outset that this would be quite different from Shoe Dog, but I was hoping for something a little more exciting Than it turned out to be.
The first part of the book was the most interesting to me. It focuses on the background of the company and its Ascension.
19 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Robert F. Jones
- 08-10-2017
Personal
Two stars - meh
three stars - good
four stars - worth a second read
five stars - life-changing - my top 50 of all time
Worth a second read because the ideas at the core of the book seem contrary to what has been my life experience.
I'd love to spend a couple of days at Bridgewater or extensively interview some longtime employees to find out if it works as the author suggests.
My experience has been that 'Idea Meritocracies' and 'Radical honesty' work great for those at the top, who's positions cannot be threatened because they deem what is valued and right.
I've also always been told that attempting to fit market movements to algorithms cannot predict the really important swings. This is because we cannot properly summarize all of the market conditions that existed historically, nor can we know all of the factors that effect markets currently because our information is incomplete. I should be able to tell if his approach works by comparing Bridgewater's performance to that of its peers, but I have not yet done this.
The author does make a telling comment early in the book, regarding the computational nature of reality. He states that if we knew we had a perfect description of the current state of the universe, we'd be able to predict what would happen next. This is by no means an established fact. Chaos theory, quantum mechanics and and Heisenberg would probably disagree.
I cannot decide if the 'Baseball Card' approach to personnel makes sense. Baseball stats are more objective that job performance or personality types based on standardized tests.
I'd love to believe that keeping stats on everyone would help predict future performance, but as Sabermetrics showed, which stats one calculates and how they are weighted have significant impact on outcomes.
I'd love to believe that his basic assumptions are correct, but I'm really ambivalent. This book raised many more questions than it answered.
If I check the facts and they seem to hold water, I will make changes to my life and thus this would qualify as a five-star book.
201 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- James Adams
- 22-11-2017
The Management/CEO’s Handbook
Having fewer reports (zero), than the author, this book - while very interesting, insightful and practical - comes across as directed towards folks way above my pay grade. CEOs and VPs in particular. Still, as a small cog in a very big wheel, I recommend it for both perspective on what good management looks like, and for straight-up honorable principles to live by.
83 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- MazamaCoffeeCo
- 01-10-2017
Bored to Tears
I don't usually give up on a book, especially one being read to me during a long drive when the only other option is silence. But, geesh. Some of the lead up stories to what I thought was the meat forthcoming were interesting but all in all no meat delivered. At least nothing up to the point where I threw up the white hankie and hit the stop button. The advice was generic and lacked the, for instance, this is how you'd apply this. I do know that he knows all about the ins and outs of pork bellies and the crops they eat and weather patterns ad nauseam. And he mentioned many times how he rubbed elbows with the rich and famous. Got it - you're a big deal.
63 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Jon David Schein
- 28-10-2017
phenomenally replete with wisdom
if you're building a business or hold a management role in one or even if you're looking to improve your day-to-day life, I bet this book will serve you well.
22 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- McKenzy Germain
- 15-10-2017
The Blueprint — Lessons From Reformed New Yorker
The Blueprint — 10 Lessons From Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio
What makes this book a gold mine for me and like-minded people:
1. Understanding why a meritocratic environment works best for my personality has helped me shed imposter syndrome; mask off.
2. Ray defines a valid solution around a psychological dichotomy and process that stems to eliminate a ton of common misconceptions. Supportive ideologies around the power of numbers & group theory, associated with machine learning seem to be a great formula for creating an effective symbiotic ecosystem. If practiced by those who are open to change and constructive criticism.
3. The opening line made me want to get on plane to NYC, take a train over to CT, give Ray a high five, then head back to the concrete jungle to engage in shenanigans.
4. Machine learning (ai) can have a positive outcome as long as its used as supportive component for analytics and behavioral studies.
5. Ai, when done right, has the ability to yield some highly beneficial outcomes around structuring teams and making business decisions. At the same time, it can aid in studying your personal history, train of thought, and help predict what environments are good for personality.
6. It’s good to be open to constructive criticism.
7. Arguments should occur with the intention of arriving at new learnings, not to generate hatred or sense of detachment from the opposing party.
8. Some personalities just don’t work for the environment or culture that you are trying to creates. And in certain cases YOU actually create the high level of toxicity that destroys the environment that you are attempting to create.
9. The goal of learning is to grow and one day help another elevate themselves by sharing your learnings in an intuitive manner.
10. Mistakes should be embraced in the same we celebrate blessings. For in a lost or failure, we have an opportunity to learn and increase our aptitude around problem solving for that specific issue.
Bonus: never give up and let your humility serve as the honey that will capture the hearts and minds of your counterparts.
34 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Market Maven
- 14-10-2017
Two-thirds full.
I am a fan of Ray Dalio, the legendary hedge-fund manager. This book has three sections: a bio of Ray, followed by his "life principles," followed then by his "work principles." I found his life story to be very interesting indeed. And his "life principles" were excellent, especially the notion of "radical transparency" and "radical openness" and honestly confronting ones problems. So far great. But I got really bogged down in the third section, his "work principles." This seemed more like a corporate human resources manual than anything one could use in life. Even if you were a CEO or department head of a several hundred person organization, his principles often seemed like cliches. So much depends on what people are charged to do, but he has very little of that. I wish he had spent more time on his investment philosophy. This is where is his genius lies. He is not Tony Robbins. But I did learn from this book to confront my own problems more honestly and directly.
38 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- T. Herman
- 05-10-2017
Narrow Perspective on Modern Workplace
Some of the ideas here are interesting but this really feels like the thoughts of someone who has been "the boss" their entire career, and never experienced other work cultures. Ray is clearly not shy about conflict and I doubt any introverts have ever worked at Bridgewater. If you were starting a hedge fund with a bunch of alpha males this would be the goto strategy for success but I don't think a lot of this advice carries over to other fields and a lot I would consider harmful for creating a truly creative environment.
15 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 28-11-2017
Your compass north guide on your life journey
I truly enjoyed this book and it was particularly beneficial being read by the author. Ray Dalio is a very successful person and it’s excellent for him to share, in full transparency, his Principles that shaped him and Bridgewater. This allows you to gain a very intimate insight on Rays compass north during all important and mundane decisions and can be used a guide for you as you develop your own principles.
Of course, this is the premise of the book that to achieve results it requires radical truth with radical transparency. Ray certainly delivers on this and I have begun to implement these within my career and life.
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Vlad
- 20-10-2017
I personally didn't find it educational enough.
The book feels a lot like a linear autobiography. It talks about major events from the author’s past, including successes and failures the author has learnt from.
In the beginning, the book sounded to have been structured well and the author’s writing style seemed quite analytical. The author’s voice is clear and composed throughout. I really liked it when the author states he doesn’t wish to impose his beliefs on the listener and that the advice he’ll be sharing may not benefit everyone.
The author frequently speaks about how has helped companies run more efficiently. Most times, however, I struggled to extract value from his explanations unless he gave some sort of evaluation in the end.
The author also speaks a lot about his company Bridgewater, its challenges and achievements as well as constantly evolving culture and management. To me it sounded the author was more interested in describing, explaining and at times praising his business instead of looking to provide knowledge to the listener in a direct and understandable way.
Four hours in, the book appeared to have become an autobiography of Ray Dalio’s business and career. I decided to return it because the more I listened to it, the less I felt it benefited me.
I wouldn’t recommend the book to everyone but if you are into investing, finance and business management, you may really like the book.
47 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Thomas Sichel
- 30-09-2017
A life changing boom
Thank you Ray Dalio for writing this! Business and life guidance from someone well read and most definitely experiences..
19 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- walduscycu
- 22-11-2017
An absolute must read
The author is incredibly eloquent and down to earth person. Normal language is being used to explain complexity of company organisation etc.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 05-11-2019
a future classic
Ray Dalio narrates a significant portion of the book and is much more engaging than the other narrator, but the content is excellent
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Iulian - Easy coaching? for men
- 15-10-2019
I have to listen it again as it's so full of infos
It's a book full of information and from my perspective, it needs a lot of attention. I have to relisten.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- khwexi
- 02-11-2017
Book of the year!
1.3 Don't let the fears of what others think of you stand in your way.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- J
- 14-02-2018
Mostly about Bridgewater
Not really a general self-help book, but has value if interested in the company.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 26-10-2017
Great insights but very, very repetitive.
This book contained some really useful insights and offered a glimpse of how the world of financial services will someday look. That said, it was extremely repetitive and dragged on for about 9 hours longer than it needed to.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- MARK WATSON
- 22-11-2017
An absolute gem!
This has to be there with the best book I have consumed in a very long time. So much so that I truly believe that any individual should listen to or read to add value and benefit their lives both personally and professionally. I could not switch it off!
3 people found this helpful
16 Best Audiobooks by Aboriginal Authors
Across genres, there’s no shortage of brilliant titles from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers of Australia.



25 Best Celebrity Audiobooks
It’s always a pleasant surprise to pick up a familiar story and find an unexpected famous friend in the narrator’s booth.



Best Audiobooks of 2020
We've crunched the numbers, heard from our listeners and gotten expert opinions to round up the best listens of 2020.


