The library was Naval’s first leverage, university, and sanctuary.
“I was raised by a single mom in New York, and she used the local library as a daycare center, because it was a very tough neighborhood”. “When you get back from school, go straight to a library and don’t come out until I pick you up late at night”. His mother created a system that turned necessity into intellectual wealth. This latchkey kid gained equity in his own education.
“So I used to basically live in the library, and I read everything; I read every magazine, I read every pictograph, I read every book, I read every map. I just went up stuff to read. I just read everything”. No credentials required. No curriculum imposed. Pure desire unleashed as leverage. The right incentives created unlimited access to human knowledge.
“I was raised essentially in a library as a daycare center. So I’ve just read so much that I don’t even know where to start”. The library became his mental model: knowledge should compound, be abundant, and completely owned. “The real education begins in the library. It begins with books”.
This antisocial introvert discovered his specific knowledge early. “I was just lost in the world of words and ideas from an early age”. No one forced what to read. He learned to trust his judgment about what created lasting value. Pure learning without signaling.
The library taught him iteration: return to the same ideas until they compound. Knowledge as ownership, not rental. High agency thinking from day one.
Years later, Naval would see the internet as the ultimate library. “The beauty of the internet is the entire library of Alexandria times 10 is at your fingertips at all times”. The physical library became his template for approaching all knowledge: antifragile, curiosity-driven, free from artificial constraints.
His childhood necessity became lifelong leverage. The library taught him that true education happens when authentic desire meets unrestricted access. This created his foundational mental model: knowledge compounds when you follow genuine interest rather than prescribed paths.