What book have you read recently, and what are your learning from it?

I recently completed Jeffrey Archer’s Kane and Abel. It is a wonderful, fast-paced book which kept me engrossed.

Besides the incidental dose of enthusiasm, the plot in itself had a lot of takeaways for life. So to give a brief introduction, the title is a take on the biblical story of two brothers Cain and Abel. Abel is the good, younger brother and Cain the evil, older brother. Abel is more favored and so one day Cain murders him in his jealousy, and gets cast out and cursed for life.

Kane and Abel are two people born on the same day, one is filthy rich and the other is as poor as one could be. And yet somehow they cross each other’s path and become sworn enemies. The rest of the plot is about this enmity.

There’re no other spoilers in this answer.

So here are some lessons from the novel:

1. Do not let your family background or circumstances hold you back or make you too comfortable and indolent. One can cross most of the hurdles presented by birth and circumstances. Likewise, no amount of privilege can help anyone if one is too lazy, dumb or irresponsible to utilize them.
2. The world is unfair, accept it. But, the world is unfair, do not accept your situation forever.
3. There’s no substitute for hard work and continuous learning
4. Keep learning from wherever and whenever you can. Even a cheap (money-wise) prostitute or a small-time thief could teach you something useful.
5. Build relationships. You never know how someone can turn helpful, but…
6. Don’t be blind to people. If you can’t judge people, look out for warning signs. Don’t ignore them for blind love.
7. No matter what they say, money is power and freedom, and one should learn to manage it, especially when one is poor. But then even rich people need to learn how to manage money else they can get poor pretty quickly.
8. It’s good to teach children how to manage money. It’s a good habit and teaches them responsibility.
9. Always be ready for opportunities.
10. Always be ambitious so that you can identify the opportunities and grab them when they come. Avoid people who aren’t ambitious and/or are literally throwing away their lives.
11. The world isn’t black and white and there’s always more than what meets the eye.
12. Always have mentors.
13. Hatred is exhausting.