Every time I had a discussion around hedge funds with my friends, Ray Dalio’s name always came up. Ray, who comes from a humble background, founded one of the world’s best performing hedge funds called Bridgewater Associates.

He is an inspiring entrepreneur who built a massive hedge fund from the ground up. Bridgewater Associates has $160B under management. The fund’s size and performance are testimony to Ray’s entrepreneurial passion and investment expertise.

A few people in my network recommended Ray’s book Principles, so I finally read it during the pandemic.

My Review

It is not your typical business book, especially Part III. If anything, it felt more like a university textbook or I’d say, similar to an engineering handbook in its approach — very systematic information but quite boring to read. Apart from Part I, the book doesn’t follow a storytelling style.

The book is split into three parts that are very independent of each other. I am going to review each part.

Part I: Where I’m Coming From

Part I is a short 120-page autobiography. I enjoyed reading about his life journey from a modest background to building a flourishing hedge fund. If you like reading about people’s life journeys, it will be fun. Else, you may skip it.

Part II: Life Principles

This part covers Ray’s principles of life’s challenges and opportunities. It is encompassed within 150 pages, is easy to read and not boring. It points out some of the key principles that made Ray more successful- Reality, Openness, People’s Psychology and Decision Making.

I highly recommend people in their 20s to read part II. I was a little late to the party, so I didn’t gain much knowledge.

Part III: Work Principles

Part I was fun to read and I didn’t receive any new information from Part II. So I was excited to see what wonders Part III would bring, but this is the boring one. However, it validated many of my thoughts and beliefs, which is always nice to realize. This part is more like an engineering handbook so I recommend you read through the definitions of the principles but skip the commentary unless you want to dive deeper.

As a science student and a mechanical engineer, I can see Ray applying many principles of science and engineering in his work life.

He sees everything as a machine with a lot of moving components, and applies the principles of building, running, maintaining a machine to his work, business and entrepreneurial spirit. I agree with most of it but there comes a point where it seems like he is living in a utopia, especially when applying these principles to humans. I felt like these ideal principles are definitely not very relevant in the startup world.

About The Book

This version consists of 544 pages, the initial version was published online and was much shorter. Written by Ray Dalio, the hardcover is available for purchase from Amazon for $14. You can also purchase it from the book’s official website.

Here is table of content:

Who Is It For?

I’d highly recommend professionals in their 20s and 30s to read the book and put some effort into understanding various principles. It may be boring for you because you have not had a lot of life and work experience. Use it as a reference book as you progress in your career and it will start making sense :). It will help you be a better employee, manager or entrepreneur.

My Overall Rating: 4/5

It is a great text and reference book to keep handy when you need it.