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Open Book by Jessica Simpsons
BATB score: 5/10 💋 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 you’ve 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 🐈⬛ 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, don’t 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 ⚠️ 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 🫥 Best for: the book explicitly said, written for Millennials, the world’s 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 Millennials’ 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 👨🏫 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


Real Talk: Lessons from a Therapist to Help You Heal by Tasha Bailey
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


The Wealth Money Can't Buy: The 8 Hidden Habits to Live Your Richest Life by Robin Sharma
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


A Family Secret: My Shocking True Story of Surviving a Childhood in Hell by Maureen Wood
BATB score: 9/10 🥺 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 😇 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 🫥 Best as: 65% Sam Carr’s memoir on loneliness; 35% other people’s telltale on loneliness Best to: in need of roughly 15% more scientific data, experimental reference, tangible substance or else it’s just storytelling Best for: this book is not worth your PhD 😬 Best quotes: “We come into the world alone and we die alone. Why, in life, should we be any less alone?” “There 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 🤓 Best as: a memoir to Bill Gate’s adolescence years from age 7 with a lot a lot of details that wasn’t 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. “The


Will You Care If I Die? by Nicolas Lunabba
BATB score: 7/10 🥺 Best as: Sweden’s dark side of teen guns and gangs, poverty for young immigrants, racism and homicides 🇸🇪 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 Sweden’s teen gun violence? I didn’t either. Best quote: “Will you care if I die?”


The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom by Shari Franke
BATB score: 5/10 🤨 reader discretion advised: a 21st century memoir to family YouTube channel sensation, influencer monetization, zero children’s 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 that’s quite eloquent, great chapter structure, good use of advanced English vocabul


Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden
BATB score: 7/10 😱 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 today’s 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 🍜 *reader discretion advised* you must get past the first part, first 100 pages, and then you’re 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 “ultra-processed food (UPF) is the cause of our over-eating, obesity, and other health problems” and thus why current FDA is inadequate, why blaming lack of exercise, a low-nutrients, high-car


Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus by John Gray
BATB score: 6/10 💃🏻 🕺 *great book title 👏 metaphorically descriptive and conclusive: men and women are polar opposites 🪐☄️ Best as: written by a relationship counselor back in 1992; 33 years later, a lot of the premises are still true Best to: however, gender-role association may not be that straightforward; there’s more than two genders now and gender-role characteristics are more fluid BATB lingering thought: and that’s why we need marriage counseling (and maybe that’s


Buddhism for Busy People: Finding Happiness in a Hurried World by David Michie
BATB score: 2/10 😡 you’ve wasted my time *said with an intimidating resting bitch face* please go zen away from me Best as: this is not how you introduce Buddhism to busy people; this is how you pissed off busy people with your repetitive writing style, softie storytelling, and weakest Buddhism pitch Best to: hire a very good ghost writer, re-write this book to a third of the size, get to the point don’t waste time, raise only your killer best stories, gain better street cre


Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone by Satya Nadella
BATB score: 6/10 🤖 meh. introduction to Microsoft company culture and 2030s vision under Satya Nadella’s ruling; fun fact, AI investment was already in the works since 2017 👏 Microsoft and OpenAI 🚀 Best for: if you are applying for a director role at Microsoft Best to: mister growth mindset, c in ceo stands for culture, one team one dream, learning from on-ground consumers, partners, and competitors, serving a sole north star “to empower every person and organization on th


Time Anxiety: The Illusion of Urgency and a Better Way to Live by Chris Guillebeau
BATB score: 3/10 ⌛️ Best to: this book on “time” is a waste of time Best as: Chris Guillebeau is a weakling Best for: too basic for valedictorians, IVY league graduates, wartime leaders, all-star employees, and asians BATB lingering thought: your best excuse to say no to anything is “No, thank you. I’m going to die one day.” Best quotes: “You feel regretful about the past, uncertain or hesitant about the present, and apprehensive of the future.” “If everything’s important, no


WHEN: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel H. Pink
BATB score: 10/10 👏 *Daniel H Pink is my favorite non-fiction author* Best as: nerdy, scientific, experimental, behavioral economics, entertaining, fun read Best for: you need to digest and think of further optimizing implementation from these insights or else it’s just useless fun read Best to: knowing that it is the last piece of chocolate, that last piece is the most yummy nom nom Best quotes: “If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your st


Managing Up: How to Get What You Need From the People in Charge by Melody Wilding
BATB score: 7/10 🤔 Best for: first jobbers / young rat racers or a reminder for senior leaders; how to be beloved by your manager, how to navigate office gossip and benefit from corridor talk, how to ask for a raise, and when and how to quit tactfully Best as: once you are more senior, you either figure out how to navigate manager politics with your own playbook or you don’t give a fuck any more 😂 BATB lingering thought: at 35 years old, after sprinting in this corporate ra
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