top of page



Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in New York City by Andrea Elliott
BATB score: 4/10 🍎 when life is truly not on your side - the minute you are born, you have drawn the short straw and life is forever against you at the end of the day, it’s a really good story; you understand why innocent baby grew up gangsta, killing people, and ended up in jail and you feel the love the mother truly has for her children even when she have nothing to offer Best for: daredevils - the book is so longgggg (525 pages with font size 10 est. minimum reading 20+ h


The Antidote Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking by Oliver Burkeman
BATB score: 6/10 💭 started out very interesting and then deteriorated with every succeeding chapters; better to read Oliver Burkeman’s more recent masterpiece BATB 9/10 ‘Four Thousand Weeks’ 2021 Best as: key premise - when you expect the worst, you are more calm when the worst actually happen; thus maybe it is better to live with negative thinking and stop forcing positive thinking (because who are you? teletubbies?!) Best for: you know how the book “The Secret” claimed tha


The Minds of Billy Milligan: The First Man to Use Multiple Personality Disorder in An Insanity Defense by Daniel Keyes
BATB score: 5/10 🧐 *reader discretion advised* I personally love Daniel Keyes’ masterpiece “Flowers for Algernon” 1958 [BATB 10/10] and wanted to explore his other works “The Minds of Billy Milligan” 1981 Best to: Imagine 1977, a serious crime of kidnap and rape at Ohio State University has break loose where the suspect is a 22-year-old young male with 24 different personality; the world’s very first case of schizophrenia; then Billy Milligan, the suspect himself, wrote to D


The Art of War by Sun Tzu
BATB score: 5/10 💥 written in 500 BC, a blueprint / playbook to war, oh my my this book is literally a part of history! Best to: Sun Tzu’s The Art of War is written in bullet points, short quotable phrases, short words of wisdom, and immediately moving onto the next short quotable phrase - kinda like reading a meme lol Best as: “Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons. And they will follow you into the deepest valley.” OKAY NEXT! “Move swift as the Wind and closely


What They Still Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School by Mark H. McCormack
BATB score: 2/10 🙄 i don’t like this book, i don’t like it at all; but can I be kind? can I be nice? can I be humble? and glass half full? try my best to see the good in the junk, the genuine intentions and the kind words of advice that McCormack sincerely wants to leave behind? no, I can not. 🫠 Best to: it’s a book written by an uncle telling you to do 1-2-3, then 4-5-6, and then 7-8-9 to be successful; legit advices just too many overloading, redundant, mundane tips and t


The Secrets of My Life by Caitlyn Jenner
BATB score: 9/10 👏 Bruce Jenner - USA olympic gold medalist, macho superhero, father of Kendall and Kylie Jenner; VS his feminine soul 🫶 Best to: psychology coined societal term “spotlight effect” make our lives an unnecessary performance BATB lingering thought: very clever! truly working smart! share your story then have a renowned professional author Buzz Bissinger write your memoir; because every celebrity has a good story but not all celebrity can be an author 💯 Best a


The Happiness Hypothesis: Ten Ways to Find Happiness and Meaning in Life by Jonathan Haidt
BATB score: 1/10 💔 Best to: I don’t want to read another page of this book. I can not read any more. BATB death page 45/243 🏴☠️ Best as: Happiness = Happiness Set Point (Meditation, Cognitive Therapy, Prozac) + Living Conditions (External Forces 70K USD/Year) + Voluntary Activities (Progress Principle [something to strive for], Immediate Feedback, Connection to Others); thank you Jeffrey Marr for the cartoon summary of this book - true life saver 🛟 Best for: go to the boo


Me vs Brain: An Overthinker's Guide to Life by Hayley Morris
BATB score: 6/10 💕 Best for: first and foremost, you need to know who Hayley Morris is, please go search for her instagram handle @hayleymorris3 and watch all of her instagram reels (or her tiktok channel, if you are a tiktok person) BATB lingering thought: did you like her V Hotel Reels? so creative, I love them! I am happy I get to support a social media influencer I love by buying, importing, and reading her book; even though the shipping fee was shitload and it does not


Things I Wish I Knew Before My Mom Died by Ty Alexander
BATB score: 7/10 👩👧💞 ahh it’s actually a memoir for her mom’s passing rather than a self-help book; yet, in the mom-memoir category “Crying in H Mart” wins by a mile 💗 Best for: daughters. even better if your are both a daughter-to-a-mother and a mother-to-a-daughter BATB lingering thought: two good tips, from things I wish I knew before my Mom died, is (A) to record your mom’s voice somewhere somehow and (B) in response to anyone’s statement of “my mom just passed” is “


My Daddy The Pedophile: A Memoir by Lily Palazzi
BATB score: 10/10 🥹 BATB reader discretion advised: not for the faint-hearted, not for the unicorns and rainbow souls; because real life is truly worse than any Netflix series can depicts Best as: such an important memoir, such a valuable book; seriously, if you are going to write something, write something that is meaningful like this, it’s about being a victim, to a survivor, to an advocate Best for: humans are monsters - it got worse and worse every chapter BATB lingering


PARIS: The Memoir by Paris Hilton
BATB score: 9/10 💗💎 wow what a comeback for Paris Hilton! Best to: what we’ve known about Paris Hilton has only been in the tabloid and what a brilliant book to tell her side of the story (book release 2023) BATB lingering thought: ‘tabloid’ refers to dumb content that actually makes you dumber and dumber Best as: after reading this memoir, to me, Paris Hilton is a very smart entrepreneur who is so clever to make herself a brand; she’s the OG KOL influencer way before socia


Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard by Tom Felton
BATB score: 7/10 🧙♂️ *reader discretion advised: must be a true Harry Potter the movie series fan* Best for: you would love love love this book only if you can answer this question, who did Alan Rickman play in Harry Potter? otherwise, you would have to be googling while reading this book to understand who Tom Felton is talking about (which is fine but not immersive) Best to: I believe Tom Felton still tried to be politically correct throughout the book until the very last


Good Morning, Monster: A Therapist Shares Five Heroic Stories of Emotional Recovery by Catherine Gildiner
BATB score: 7/10 🍳 a therapist shares five heroic stories of emotional recovery; aka the art of paying to talk things through Best to: the five individual stories were very sickening and thus very interesting - super fun to read like Black Mirror Best for: only if you are someone who is exploring a career path as a psycho-therapist or is someone who wishes to be better and is considering therapy as a remedy, this book is for you; otherwise, it’s too niche BATB lingering thou


The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work by Simone Stolzoff
BATB score: 10/10 👏👏👏 *required reading for office employees* we need to redefine our relationship with work because it is overrated and unhealthy Best for: any one who has said they are ‘passionate’ about the industry, company, or role; do know that the feeling was never mutual 💔 Best as: if only we can compete on who has better work-life balance instead of who has better work success (over what sacrifice), life would be so much more enriching and interesting BATB linger


Risking It All: Elon Musk by Michael Vlismas
BATB score: 3/10 🚀🧨 Best for: in one’s lifetime one should definitely read at least one Elon Musk book, this is not that one Elon Musk book that one should read; better to check out Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance [7.6/10 BATB] Best as: so interesting how writers capitalize on other people’s stories; I am sure Michael Vlismas is not giving any of this book’s proceeds to Elon Musk BATB linger thought: I hope this world have more Elon Musk, the crazy ones, who is insane enough to d


The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
BATB score: 9/10 🥹 Britney Spears is such a sensation and a legend 🙇🏻♀️ Best to: if we talk about world peace, literally one thing that binds the world is our shared love for Britney Spears songs and lyrics [I Just Can't Sleep / I'm So Excited, I'm In Too Deep] Best for: your family can become toxic when money is involved Best as: wow 13-years in a conservatorship is insane; only in USA; 1.3M active cases right now BATB linger thought: dear Britney Spears, I am so happy t


Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life by Arnold Schwarzenegger
BATB score: 1/10 🤬 omg shut up Best to: mister invincible, mister go fight win, just go away Best for: this work hard play harder mentality is so yesterday BATB linger thought: this book would be exponentially better if Arnold Schwarzenegger talk truthfully about his affair, his failures as Governor of California, his whatever! just with more sincerity and humility; Arnold and David Goggins can be friends Best as: the book’s narration sounds like that annoying uncle at famil


Wildflower by Drew Barrymore
BATB score: 4/10 🌸 Best for: wah Drew Barrymore really wrote this memoir for herself and nobody else as the stories only matters to her and nobody else Best to: what it means to be famous for being famous is you can write up a book; promote it with your name and disregard the content Best as: Drew Barrymore’s milking that passive income Best quote: “I wanted to be a good girl, and I wanted goodness to be the theme of my life and my work.”


A CEO For All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership by Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, Vikram Malhotra, and Kurt Strovink
BATB score: 8/10 👏 Best as: you don’t just get an offer to be CEO, you set “CEO” as your life’s goal and work backwards 24 years of career planning and progression to get there Best for: CEO career climbers only - “Many CEOs secretly agree that the best job in the world is actually the one right below the CEO.” Best to: a true playbook on how to get to be CEO, how to be CEO, and how to leave as CEO - lead with the question of “why?” to drive focus, and “why not?” to encourag


Drunk(ish) A Memoir of Loving and Leaving Alcohol by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor
BATB score: 4/10 🥂 Best to: whenever you are in doubt on whether you are an alcoholic Best for: ahh, I am an alcoholic Best as: or am I just an alcohol enthusiast? Best quotes: “to be a better version of myself and at worst to get some quiet in my brain” “I need friends who understand my limitations and have lowered their expectations.”
Subscribe
bottom of page


