By: Ray Dalio, founder & CEO of Bridgewater Associates

Context: Bridgewater Associates is one of the world's largest hedge funds.

Ray's introduction to Principles

Above all else, I want you to think for yourself—to decide:

1. what you want,

2. what is true, and

3. what to do about it.

I want you to do that in a clear-headed thoughtful way, so that you get what you want. I wrote this book to help you do that. I am going to ask only two things of you—

1. that you be open-minded, and
2. that you honestly answer some questions about what you want, what is true, and what you want to do about it.

If you do these things, I believe that you will get a lot out of this book. If you can’t do these things, you should reflect on why that is, because you probably have discovered one of your greatest impediments to getting what you want out of life.

Primary Sources

Podcast: a16z x Ray Dalio

a16z Podcast: Principles and Algorithms for Work and Life by a16z

"Original" copy of Principles, a web PDF on Bridgewater website

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/d50a0ad4-171a-4d7f-bf7a-92c1abc0f365/DalioRay_BridgewaterAssociatesPrinciples_2011.pdf