BATB score: 8/10 👏 *reader discretion advised* this is not a book, this is a white paper research on how homo sapiens can better communicate with other homo sapiens *advanced reading level required* there are some very good chapters and some very meh chapters; the long, various his/her/their anecdotes makes it boring at times Best as: very well-researched, extremely academic, theoretical dump, nerdy read Best for: Yuval Noah Harari would love this book as it is advocating fo

BATB Score: 8/10 🕵️‍♀️ “People die too easily. It should be more painful, and take longer.” - a glimpse into the minds of killers Best as: Between Good and Evil: A Master Profiler's Hunt for Society's Most Violent Predators; the firsthand experiences of a criminal profiler through the gruesome violent homicides and savage rape cases 💯 Best for: a life in a life of a serial killer profiler, detective, forensics, cop, psychologist combine Best to: this book could have been a

BATB Score: 8.5/10 👏 *reader discretion advise* this is not a book; this is a white-paper research document proposing one single premise that mobile phone x the internet x social media, all from 2010 onwards is creating an anxious generation with weakening mental health and detrimental life consequences Best for: read this book if this is you - “The phone-based life makes it difficult for people to be fully present with others when they are with others, and to sit silently w

BATB Score: 8.5/10 🤯 BATB wanted to know what kind of masterpiece writing does it take to win 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature (also congratulations Han Kang well-deserved 👏 ) Best to: eloquence in narration - word choice, sentence structure, convey character emotions, graphic narration, oddest plot, open-ended confusing ending Best as: imagine being award with the utmost prize of 2024 for something you wrote in 2007, which was only translated in 2015, to someone like me just

BATB score: 8/10 👏 Best to: what better way to learn about addiction from addicts; why our addiction to pleasure is causing us pain - easy, clear, simple, I understood everything Best as: why nicotine is better than sex (and probably why people smoke after sex), why drug addictions cause prolonged pain that becomes too painful to live ever without the drug - vicious cycle Best for: we are all addicts in one way or another, the first cure is to be honest about it (at least to

BATB score: varies based on your nationality BATB score: 4/10 if you are Thai, born and raised, you don’t 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 doesn’t mean that you-developed can march in and claim supremacy; why? just because you have a soothing English accent, oh god,

BATB score: 8/10 💠 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 💭 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 🤯 Best as: di

BATB score: 8/10 👨‍🏫 hey hey not bad professor! short, concise, to the point, research-driven, fun, with key chapter takeaways, and super actionable 💯 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

BATB score: 8/10 ❤️‍🩹 Best as: affordable therapy in book form, DIY-self-therapist, pick a theme/chapter that suits your needs and read away 💯 Best to: explanation, examples, exercises; not all chapters would be applicable, but there’s 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 🫠 Best for: we all need therapy ❤️‍🩹 Best quotes: “Cringing happens when it feels too

BATB score: 8/10 👏 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 “wait why though”? Best quotes: “Reaching the summit of money but getting there feeling empty, lonely and unhappy, isn’t winning. It’s losing.” “We are all dreami

BATB score: 8/10 😎 *feel good vibes* Best as: a novella about soulmates finding each other after generations of rebirths Best to: a casual read, best read under the palm trees 🌴 on a beach 🏖️ with an aperol spritz 🍹 Best for: anyone on holiday on italian amalfi beaches Best quote: “It’s life that is impermanent, not love.”

BATB score: 8/10 🥹 Best as: wow what a memoir on eating to suppress feelings, eating as a defense mechanism, eating to hide to the point of morbid obesity BATB TL;DR: sexually abused at 12, turned to eating to numb feels to the point of obesity Best to: redundant with each chapter but forgivable Best for: any women out there who agrees that fat shaming and fat dysmorphia is real; even if you are not (that) fat you wish to be less fat Best quotes: “I reserve my most elaborate

BATB score: 8/10 😊 Best as: damn, sometimes we forget that Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani education activist, is just a girl nothing special and she deserves to just be a girl nothing special Best to: a coming of age memoir of a Pakistani girl in Oxford University in love Best for: you have to know who Malala Yousafzai is and you should have read “I Am Malala” book first Best quotes: “As if the worst thing that ever happened to me was the most interesting part of my life.” “To

BATB score: 8/10 Best as: a short bedtime story but thriller Freida McFadden signature epilogue twist Best to: 60-minutes quick casual fun read to give you a small sense of accomplishment - yay, I finished a book today Best for: Frieda McFadden’s loyal fanclub Best quotes: “And I feel lighter - happier - all of a sudden.” “Sometimes it’s better to let go than to drag it out.”

BATB score: 8/10 reader discretion advised this is not a book, this is a white-paper research BATB summary: key point of the book > you weren’t allowed to explore and be your true self as a child, you model the ‘good boys good girls’ that your parents wanted you to be, all in exchange for parental ‘unconditional’ love; you were smart / gifted enough to comply, and thus, you grew up depressed and broken from living somebody else’s ‘good boys good girls’ life for no one but yo

BATB score: 8/10 👍 Best as: culture marketing playbook #legit Best to: everything in life is marketing - religion, music, global warming, everything Best for: marketers - “start with the soul and end with the sale” because “We were looking for fans when we should have been looking for believers.” BATB lingering thought: “If Thanksgiving is the day that we reflect on all that we have, then Black Friday is the day that we realize we don’t have enough.” damn, imagine a marketin

BATB score: 8/10 🥹 Best to: words of wisdom that is not forced down your throat Best as: BATB re-read and it still feels like a grandma’s warm hug; that fuzzy feeling that makes your heart mellow - melting marshmallow Best for: any mature adult who just needs a grandma’s loving embrace - grandma made soft chocolate chip cookie from the freezer heated in the microwave for a few seconds eaten on a kitchen towel on the sofa while watching Jeopardy! BATB lingering thought: Oprah

BATB score: 8/10 BATB re-read, still epic and critical 👏 Best as: a reminder to us all that it is a choice “just because I was invited didn’t seem a good enough reason to attend” Best for: don’t be that person on your deathbed regretting “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” Best to: how to say no gracefully “I am flattered that you thought of me but I’m afraid I don’t have the bandwidth.” or “I would very much like t

BATB score: 8/10 🫶 Adam Kay’s top five best medical memoirs recommendations Best as: a psychologist specializing in mood disorders who has bipolar disorder + maniac depression herself 🤯 Best to: beautifully written and eloquently narrated the feelings and struggles of depression Best for: a doctor’s memoir- I believe it is impossible for one to know what depression feels like unless you have had it Best quotes: “The Chinese believe that before you can conquer a beast you fi