[TheOtherHobbes]

Nonsense.

You can't rationally compare the life chances of someone whose parents are billionaires - with access to that network, and the best schooling, and discussions about investing over dinner - with someone born in a shack without a book in the house.

An incredibly tiny number of people will be able to do well from a near-zero start. And most will do it by being aggressively self-serving narcissists.

Everyone else is going to have a much tougher time.

[WalterBright]

Migrants who walk a thousand miles to get into the US come with nothing, yet they on average do rather well here.

> without a book in the house

Everybody has a supercomputer in their pocket with access to millions of free books.

[lordnacho]

> Everybody has a supercomputer in their pocket with access to millions of free books.

And which ones should you read?

[WalterBright]

"Siri, which free books should I read?"

[throwawaysea]

That’s for the person to figure out. If they’re hard working, they’ll sacrifice [some leisure activity] to research which books to read.

[lordnacho]

A reasonable attitude, but one that you would only arrive at if you were fortunate enough to pick the right books to begin with. Or the right teachers.