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The Way Thais Lead: Face as Social Capital by Larry S. Persons
BATB score: varies based on your nationality BATB score: 4/10 if you are Thai, born and raised, you donāt have to read this book we know this by heart BATB score: 8/10 if you are an expat in a leadership role in Thailand, also wtf are you doing in my country taking c-level roles that are better off lead by true-thais?! just because we are developing doesnāt mean that you-developed can march in and claim supremacy; why? just because you have a soothing English accent, oh god,


You Can Be Happy No Matter What: Five Principles for Keeping Life in Perspective by Richard Carlson, Phd
BATB score: 2/10 š” an ancient book - published in 1992 aka 33 years ago! šµļøāāļø Best to: thoughts shape your mood, low mood dismisses wisdom, wisdom comes from staying in the present; yeah, thatās about it BATB lingering thought: okie this a key life lesson, when asked what is a book youāll recommend, knowing that the person asking and/or the audience listening would never read that book anyways, always recommend a book with a title that is a full sentence in itself; instant


Gambling Man: The Secret Story of The Worldās Greatest Disruptor, Masayoshi Son by Lionel Barber
BATB score: 5/10 š¤·āāļø Best for: you have to be in the start-up venture capitalist business to appreciate the tissue-paper billion dollar deal, the all-or-nothing gamble based on gut feelings,and the crazy mad man founders and even crazier investors Best to: too detailed for the average joe on a donāt really need to know basis Best as: so this is what it takes; missing your own wedding twice, a narcissistic belief in yourself as ultra indestructible, never wanting to step dow


Dreaming Yourself Awake: Lucid Dreaming and Tibetan Dream yoga for Insight and Transformation by B. Alan Wallace
BATB score: 8/10 š you know some people intentionally have affairs in dreams? Best to: if we live until 90 years old, of which we would have spent 30 years just sleeping and 25% of that sleep in REM, we would have spent 7.5 years (literally) dreaming š Best for: now you can be conscious in your dreams, imagine if you can control your dreams and put them to better use ie. entertainment, exploration (of unethical dilemmas), experimentation, and/or enlightenment 𤯠Best as: di


Open Book by Jessica Simpsons
BATB score: 5/10 š written by Jessica Simpsons for Jessica Simpsons Best as: a nostalgic ride back to the good years - 2000s; MTV billboard, skinny low waisted jeans, paparazzi, reality TV, unrelated music videos, lip sync but touching lyrics,success measured based on how many CDs youāve sold Best to: Mickey Mouse Club The Disney Channel Season 6-7 1993-1995 has made big name celebrities: Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling; and no, Jessica Si


Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?: And Other Questions About Dead Bodies by Caitlin Doughty
BATB score: 6/10 šā⬠Best as: a mortician answers every death related questions asked by innocent children Best to: hilarious but educational like will I shit my pants when I die Best for: well, donāt you want to know whether you will shit your pants when you die? BATB lingering thought: yes, you will shit your pants when you die and yes, morticians are cool with it; though they may put a pampers on / butt plug in you to make sure your funeral is decent


Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss and Tahl Raz
BATB score: 7/10 ā ļø Chris Voss, former FBI hostage negotiator, has all the legitimate street cred to write this book about How to Negotiate with Anyone Best as: however, this book was difficult to follow and hard to grasp any actionable insights; ie. from negotiating for hostage release to negotiating your salary within the same page, numerous anecdotes that at the end all sounds the same, difficult one-liner concepts too fast to hold onto Best to: is this a first draft? if y


What the CEO Wants You to Know : How Your Company Really Works by Ram Charan
BATB score: 4/10 š«„ Best for: the book explicitly said, written for Millennials, the worldās next leaders #aww Best as: started out very well as an Introduction to Business refresher, then tragically deteriorates in content quality and crushed all of the Millennialsā souls along with it Best to: a true example of generation gap in an organization in the format of a book; Gen X teaching Gen Y how to be leaders, cue Gen Y eye rolls BATB lingering thought: there are bits and pie


The Leader's Brain: Enhance Your Leadership Build Stronger Teams, Make Better Decisions, and Inspire Greater Innovation with Neuroscience by Michael L. Platt
BATB score: 8/10 šØāš« hey hey not bad professor! short, concise, to the point, research-driven, fun, with key chapter takeaways, and super actionable šÆ Best as: listening to one of Professor Michael L. Platt, Director of Wharton Neuroscience Initiative, lectures Best for: as if you are an MBA student at Wharton Business School Best to: easy morning class and off you go, on to the rest of your day BATB linger thought: there is a clear gap between a researcher/professor and r


Real Talk: Lessons from a Therapist to Help You Heal by Tasha Bailey
BATB score: 8/10 ā¤ļøā𩹠Best as: affordable therapy in book form, DIY-self-therapist, pick a theme/chapter that suits your needs and read away šÆ Best to: explanation, examples, exercises; not all chapters would be applicable, but thereās a chapter for everyone BATB lingering thought: mine is chapters Family Drama, What Holds Us Back, Self-Esteem, Body Image, and The Ups and Downs of Stress š« Best for: we all need therapy ā¤ļøā𩹠Best quotes: āCringing happens when it feels too


The Wealth Money Can't Buy: The 8 Hidden Habits to Live Your Richest Life by Robin Sharma
BATB score: 8/10 š Best to: great words of wisdom from an old retired uncle vibe about the meanings of life (note that meanings is plural) Best as: sometimes old retired uncle contradict himself and repeat himself but we listen politely anyways Best for: anyone who is sprinting to chase success and at times wonders āwait why thoughā? Best quotes: āReaching the summit of money but getting there feeling empty, lonely and unhappy, isnāt winning. Itās losing.ā āWe are all dreami


American Drug Addict by Brett Douglas
BATB score: 6/10 Best as: a complete memoir on how a drug addict is born, how it starts, escalates, cold turkey withdrawals, relapses; and how it effects everyone in your life šÆ BATB lingering thought: how pleasurably addictive is it that you donāt think about dying but merely to get high š¤ Best to: he wrote this memoir in a psych ward upon his third suicide attempt Best for: arenāt we all addicts of some sort? - everything escalated from there Best quotes: āDrugs are my on


A Family Secret: My Shocking True Story of Surviving a Childhood in Hell by Maureen Wood
BATB score: 9/10 š„ŗ a memoir of a sexually abused survivor sharing it all especially about how social services failed to save child victims aka completely missing their core job Best as: bold, bold to write and claim your own story of child abuse, bold to put your own brother, mother, and step-father in prison, bold to be able to restart and finally enjoy life as a single mom of five children and one angel child š Best to: she wrote the book in 2021 and then changed her name


All the Lonely People : Conversations on Loneliness by Sam Carr
BATB score: 6/10 š«„ Best as: 65% Sam Carrās memoir on loneliness; 35% other peopleās telltale on loneliness Best to: in need of roughly 15% more scientific data, experimental reference, tangible substance or else itās just storytelling Best for: this book is not worth your PhD š¬ Best quotes: āWe come into the world alone and we die alone. Why, in life, should we be any less alone?ā āThere is cruel irony in the fact that the relationships that play such a critical role in def


> Bill Gates Source Code /> My Beginnings by Bill Gates
BATB score: 7/10 š¤ Best as: a memoir to Bill Gateās adolescence years from age 7 with a lot a lot of details that wasnāt necessary BATB lingering thought: talking about a head start; when you start being curious about the world since 7 and start programming at age 13, by the time you are 19, you already made Microsoft Best to: when the library is your comfort zone, reading books is your favorite pastime activity, and programming is your prodigy; you get a Bill Gates ie. āThe


Will You Care If I Die? by Nicolas Lunabba
BATB score: 7/10 š„ŗ Best as: Swedenās dark side of teen guns and gangs, poverty for young immigrants, racism and homicides šøšŖ Best to: a memoir of a Swedish social worker who crossed the line and took one home BATB lingering thought: the ending got me chills Best for: something different to read, did you know about Swedenās teen gun violence? I didnāt either. Best quote: āWill you care if I die?ā


Careless People: A story of where I used to work by Sarah Wynn-Williams
BATB score: 7/10 š Best to: ex-facebooker director of public policy, minus-one to Mark Z and Sheryl S tells ALL; careless people on external global issues and internal company culture Best for: ex-facebookers, current meta-mates, anyone in public policy; weāve witnessed all of this BATB lingering thought: one for the road, one in a books; closure to once-a-facebooker - how you think about quitting everyday but takes years to finally quit (or in this case⦠*otherwise) - and s


The House of My Mother: A Daughterās Quest for Freedom by Shari Franke
BATB score: 5/10 𤨠reader discretion advised: a 21st century memoir to family YouTube channel sensation, influencer monetization, zero childrenās privacy, staged content, and cancel culture Best to: a perfect family life on-camera exposed by your eldest daughter; kudos to sissy for writing this memoir to save-ish her younger siblings BATB lingering thought: written by a 21-year-old, a memoir thatās quite eloquent, great chapter structure, good use of advanced English vocabul


Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden
BATB score: 7/10 š± reader discretion advised: not for the faint-hearted; painful tales of children born in North Korea concentration camps Best as: from reading so many North Korea escapee stories, this one stands out as he had to escape from the concentration camps first and only then escaped from North Korea like the other escapee stories Best for: North Korea stories enthusiast Best to: scarier than North Korea is todayās genocide in Gaza; scarier because this is globally


Ultra-Processed People: Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn't Food... and Why Can't We Stop? by Chris van Tulleken
BATB score: 6/10 š *reader discretion advised* you must get past the first part, first 100 pages, and then youāre good; it only gets more tolerable, interesting, and relatable from there Best as: this is not a book, this is a white paper research thesis circling around this one premise āultra-processed food (UPF) is the cause of our over-eating, obesity, and other health problemsā and thus why current FDA is inadequate, why blaming lack of exercise, a low-nutrients, high-car
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