How To Bullsh*t Your Way To Number 1: An Unorthodox Guide To 21st Century Success

by Oobah Butler

Less than a year ago, Oobah Butler was living in a garden shed in London, struggling to pay rent and living on a diet of boiled eggs. It's safe to say that he hadn't achieved much with his life. Yet just a year on, on the back of three documentaries that have been viewed over 150m times, he's won awards, been featured on TV all over the world and has been lauded by critics, commentators and serial achievers across the globe. How did everything turn for him? With an idea. Since he came with the Shed at Dulwich, the world's most famous restaurant that never existed, Oobah's life has been completely transformed. Fantastic, of course, but it made no sense. How could something he'd invested such little care and emphasis in be so impactful? Could this be the key? So he asked himself the How would my life work out if I approached it with as little consideration and as much enjoyment as my fake restaurant? Can one achieve more in life if they cease to be so emotionally involved in their goals? In the modern age, has detachment become an unlikely bedfellow of success? This new book by Oobah Butler is based on a philosophy built around this very stupid thing he did.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Self Help, Humor

80 pages, Hardcover

Published April 23, 2019

Reviews

[Danny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this whopper in one sitting.

It’s beautiful and heartbreaking.

Kind of like Tony Robbins - meets - Jackass...

[Greta · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5/5 Stars) I'm not sure what a lot of the other reviewers were expecting, but Oobah specializes in bull, so I expected a bit of bull in this book. Maybe it helps that I do not follow his youtube videos but simply am mildy aware of his career and shenanigans. As someone who is currently in a creative rut I found this book as a really good concept to break my brain of the funk I'm in. I really like his ideas about pushing beyond your bullshit cortex, and even though I knew a lot of this already it helps to re read it. My favorite part is that he is fully aware that he didn't necessarily do anything to be successful, and I wish more of us would just fess up on that.. Overall this was a fun short read.

[Daphne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Oobah Butler. His videos are some of my favorite things on the internet. I don't usually read or enjoy self-help books (if that's even what this is) but I decided to read it since I had a few extra dollars on an Indigo gift card.

It was a really fun book! I'm not an entrepreneur of any sort so the advice wasn't particularly relevant to me, but I still found it super enjoyable! It was funny and Obbah didn't take himself too seriously which I loved. He fully admitted that he owes luck to some of his success and that many of his ideas seem bat-shit crazy. But he still manages to give some good advice even if it's more about believing in yourself than anything life changing.

My favorite parts of the book were the behind-the-scenes sections. I loved learning more about how The Shed came to be and how he even came up with the idea. It's fascinating that such crazy ideas came to fruition and I loves reading about how that happened.

The chances of me re-reading this are slim to none, but I'm glad I read it once. It was funny and I can actually see it being inspiring to the right person. I can't wait to watch Oobah's next video and if he, for whatever reason decides to publish another book I will definitely be picking it up.

[Lana Cindric]

DNF'd at 50%. I came here to get more background info on the Shed at Dulwich and Georgio Peviani pranks, and left because of trying to transplant that into legitimate "business mindset" philosophies. I feel we got enough LinkedIn gurus who believe in themselves too much. At least Butler came up with fun prank-style projects, so that's something.

[Brian Cluster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oobah Butler is not the normal author or expert I would gravitate toward when selecting a book.

The book, "How to bullsh*t yourself to #1" is not an attractive topic for me. Nonetheless, I still picked it up, thinking, 'It's only 76 pages, if it is really bad I may be able to weather through it without too much effort'. I went out of my normal range of reading traditional business books from established authors like Ken Blanchard, Malcolm Gladwell, Stephen Covey, or other towering figures. This is something out of left field, and it was a good idea to mix it up! It's probably one of the shorter books I read and didn't disappoint.

While, I won't share some of the main storylines in the book and why he became the world's #1 fake restauranteur, I will share some of my takeaways and themes that were impactful and shifted my thinking a bit.

#1 We all can be better than we are but we have some artificial things hold us back. Fear or doubt is holding us back. According to Oobah, " You are not #1 because you haven't let yourself be number one." Basically, we all need to B.S. a bit more and get out of our comfort zone.

#2 When people doubt you that is good. If you have thoroughly thought out your idea and are motivated to see it through to the end then the doubters just fuel the fire to make it a blaze of motivation. You want those doubters around you and don't get offended, do get motivated.

There are more insights besides this but I will leave it up to you to read the book.

If you have thick skin and can deal with some tomfoolery and BS that is quite entertaining in this book, then I would recommend it to anyone with an open mind to find nuggets of insights in unusual places.

[Roger Hau · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book lacks the charm and deviousness of the videos that inspired it. There is very little additional detail or insight from the book, stick to the videos.

[Rebeca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw the Georgio Peviani video first, and, later I came across him breaking Britain's weird ancient laws, so I liked him quite a bit even before I saw him live, at a reading of this book, which he signed for me, so, this will not be an objective review. He is fun, irreverent of precious institutions that take themselves way too seriously, and offers an intelligent commentary on the sad state of social media and its influence on our lives while being good-natured and funny. Everyone should read about his shed, the #1 ranked London restaurant in TripAdvisor (I'm googling that video now), alongside his chapter on what fame and fortune can do to you if you don't question whether or not you're a dickhead. You'll devour this book in one sitting, you'll laugh at several places, and you'll think quite seriously about your life. You'll also find a few typos and grammatical errors which will knock off one star from a perfect review, but hey, the message is what counts, and it's legend.

[Luca Tomescu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cons: The book doesn't give a whole lot of actionable or useful advice. The tidbits that Oobah does give are fairly obvious and based on common sense, so don't expect this book to lead to much growth or self-development. I went into it with the self-dev mindset, which was a mistake in hindsight and detracted somewhat from my enjoyment of the book.

Pros: I loved hearing more of the nitty-gritty details about Oobah's two biggest schemes. The book is half advice (wasn't a huge fan) and half story (which I found delightfully entertaining). Oobah's whimsical writing style is especially fun to read as his voice shines through very well.

Conclusion: If you know who Oobah Butler is and what he does, the ~1 hour it takes to read this book is quite well worth it. If you're unfamiliar with him, go watch his YouTube video on the #1 fake restaurant on Trip Advisor. If that piques your interest, then you'll reasonably enjoy the book as well!

[B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ummm I’m not even sure where to start...partially I think Oobah Butler is actually “punking” us with this book. I think the book is meta in a sense-he’s selling his own bullshit through a book about selling bullshit-the book itself is not very good, doesn’t have many new ideas and seems to regurgitate much of the ole tried true methodologies of success like “do the hard stuff first”...the story of his success with the Shack is funny, but I actually don’t know if there is any real world advice in this book outside of have fun pursuing crazy dreams. I’m giving it three starts though because he believes in his own BS, which is one of the steps in the book, and he got me to buy this book through marketing gimmicks and a funny cover...kudos to you for that Butler.

[Irene Grynyk · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a good example that not everyone can become a writer. You may have great idea or amazing experience like the author but in the end you need more than this.

I lacked basic book structure or in other words - logic. It looks like a dairy, chaotic and emotional piece of writing.

And I couldn't wait to finish it. Make it a blog or publish it in some magazine, yes, but it is not book material. And Oobah Butler is not a writer. We should stop publishing books of successful people who don't have a clue how to write an interesting and structural book.

I enjoyed the video about the Shed or Georgio Peviani and I am definarelly a fan of what this guy did.
But not this book...

[raafi · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time I acknowledged Oobah Butler from the VICE video about him faking himself as a fashion designer and brought his brand named Georgio Peviani to Paris Fashion Week. I was not surprised if he'd write a book and here it is: his book. I was more than excited to read his story in this compact how-to book.

And, yes! I enjoyed this book. So cynical, so practical, so easy to follow to get to the number one in shitty way. Imma write the full review on my blog.

One thing I expected: his way to get in touch with VICE. I was craving it but I didn't find it here.

[hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Used to be an avid VICE reader and have been a fan of Oobah for a while. He has the most insane ideas and I bought this book to get a glimpse of how his brain works. The book is mostly narrative with a bit of advice thrown into the mix. Nothing really brand new or life changing, but a nice reminder that every successful person is really just delusional and confident. Dude is really the personification of fake it ‘til you make it. Probably more of a 3/5 but i gave an extra star just because I don’t like tanking ratings lmao. A fun quick read.

[Andy Vale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very easy book to pick up, laugh with, and learn some shit. A real perk to those who want to rejuvenate or invigorate their creative muscles but don't know how to get going.

It's also part autobiography I suppose. Not all in complete order, and only focussing on bullshit related pastimes, but it certainly feels like you have heard someone's story by the end of it. I've put it between Stormy Daniels' and Bruce Dickinson's autobiography on my shelf anyway, so it counts.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a funny and short book by the prolifically creative and funny Oobah Butler. As a journalist, he is quite amusing and acts as a jester to the court of modern conventional wisdom. This book is a funny aside to convention and is entertaining. Im sure that the principles and assignments in the book would be fun to implement for other provocateurs, Bohemians or content creators

[Vladimir Krastev · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought The Shed at Dulwich and Georgio Peviani videos were hilarious. The book, however, doesn't add up much to these and it's a bit of a repetitive brag fest of the above videos. Nowhere near as fun as you'd expect it to be, written by the guy who pulled these off. And there's no way you can take this book seriously as a self development tool, it's quite generic.

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eventhough I already knew most of Butler's escapades, it was fun reading about them again. In the end, I would've preferred a book more focusing on those projects, and less on the self-help/instructional manual side of things, as that did get a bit repetitive.

Lots of funny lines, though.

[Zuii · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked how he weaved in the self-help-style advice with his story. Oftentimes, I feel personal anecdotes add nothing to the story but Oobah’s was very entertaining. Nothing groundbreaking in terms of the advice given but I liked how he framed them.

[Tricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a creative person so the self-help part of this book was wasted on me but otherwise it was an interesting look at the shenanigans of Oobah Butler

[thomas stubbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its quite good

Enjoyed it. Writing style is not the best but who cares.
Probulary could have read an article about it and been more enjoyable.

[Sheena Forsberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice little addition to those of us (those many of us) who’s been following and enjoying Oobah Butlers’ videos.

[Carmen Cma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not enough deep insight to his work. But still is somewhat short and entertaining. Kind of repetitive.

[Nasa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointed. Book is very boring unlike his videos. Might just stick to the videos

[Alfredo Dondé · Rating 4 out of 5]

Divertido e interesante, tiene un par de ideas que valen la pena pero vale más por lo anecdótico.

[JDK · Rating 4 out of 5]

entertaining, funny and full of bullshit

[Robert Petkovic · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is so sincere in its fakery yet so fake in its core. Only in the world of fake this and fake that, where most businesses and marketers spend most of their times trying to find some shortcuts and true masters of their crafts are afraid of fake reviews, this book can be a bestseller. But event this book and author's late book tours speaks "I'm great, I've found something you losers couldn't find! Find some tool to screw the world the way I did and then you can be great!"
Sorry, not my cup of tea. Although a decent part of the book talks about some (but not all) techniques to achieve this success, most of the book talks about how you have to "fake it till you make it" and how "clever" you are then. Nope dude, although you have some decent money now, you are still a fraud to me. A genuine example why all tools should not be available to all people, although that's not the core of democracy. Democracy that brought us Trump, Brexit and wars in my surroundings.

[Jacqueline Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

My friend heard Oobah on the radio and told me the story and that there was a book. My bad, I thought it would be more about the story than a "self help" book. Story is bonkers but true and some context is given. Quite honest.

[Hestia Istiviani · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read in English but this review is Bahasa Indonesia

The Bullshit Cortex is the voice that is always telling you 'no'."

Bahaya memang ketika bangun tidur, membuka Goodreads, dan melihat seorang teman memberikan bintang 4 untuk sebuah buku yang dari judulnya terdengar menarik. Tidak lama kemudian, tangan ini sudah memencet aplikasi Kobo Books yang ada di ponsel dan mengetik judul buku itu. Ternyata tidak sampai 100 halaman dan harganya juga tidak sampai USD1. Tentu, tanpa pikir panjang langsung saja melakukan transaksi untuk buku ini.

Sekilas dari premis yang ditawarkan oleh buku, rasanya cukup menarik bagaimana Obblah Butler bisa menyusun "kebohongannya" untuk membuat dirinya sukses. Tapi apakah benar semua itu hanyalah berupa "kebohongan"?

Membaca How to Bullsh*t Your Way to Number 1 rasanya seperti edisi singkat dari beberapa buku-buku yang pernah aku baca, terutama terkait tentang mewujudkan ide. Malah, aku sempat berpikir, Butler memiliki cara dalam menjelaskan tahapan-tahapan dalam Design Thinking. Sebab, sebenarnya kita juga sudah tahu bahwa "bullsh*t" yang diciptakan oleh Butler sesungguhnya adalah "kebohongan" yang terstruktur.

Terminologi "bullsh*t" yang dimaksud bukanlah sesuatu yang tidak ada wujudunya. Bagi Butler, omong kosong yang kita lontarkan adalah sebuah ide yang bisa saja diwujudukan. Namun, dalam mewujudkannya dibutuhkan taktik dan "perangkat" yang tepat agar bisa sukses. Di sini, Butler menggunakan kisahnya dalam membangun sebuah restoran bohongan yang mendapatkan ranking 1 di situs TripAdvisor.

Bahasa Butler memang blak-blakan. Langsung menuju pada pesan tanpa terlalu panjang "pendahuluan." Dan tentu saja, bersifat lebih banyak praktis daripada hanya teori. Akan tetapi, aku tidak bisa memberikan lebih banyak bintang, sebab, buku ini sama saja dengan buku-buku mewujudkan ide yang lain.

Akan tetapi, karena teman (dan sekaligus calon rekan sekomunitas) yang pertama kali membacanya, aku jadi teringat akan sebuah proyek yang ingin aku kerjakan. Yang selama ini hanya berani aku tanamkan di otak tapi belum ada nyali untuk mengeksekusi.

[Hai · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since I prefer the academic way of writing, Oobah Butler’s informal writing style did not suit me that well. I still read it because the book was a gift from my sister. The advice was fairly cliché. You would probably have listened to them on Youtube motivational speeches. Nevertheless, it was fun to read and did not take that much time at all. His writing can lift you up if you are feeling discouraged.

[Finlay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oobah Butler is a kid I've seen on Youtube who does pranks 'n' shit. This book was shorter than I expected (I completed it in a single train ride on the Kindle), and is mostly a retelling of one of the stories that's already well-documented on Youtube. Would have appreciated more exclusive content.

Exceptional one-liners, though. I highlighted a few of my faves on this site.

[Andrew Crofts · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Man of Our Times

In a time when Trump can become president, Boris be a contender for Number Ten and a comedian become president of the Ukraine, bullsh*t undoubtedly rules the world. Mr Butler is the Dale Carnegie of Bullsh*t.