He is a good guy who doesn’t depend on superpowers; he has a few friends but he trusts them with his life, and he has a mysterious persona that keeps people guessing. He is Batman, and he is not much different from you, or the person you aspire to be. DK Publishing’s Be More Batman makes you realise the fact that if you want, you can be like the Dark Knight and face your fears while looking good.

Had this book been titled differently, it would have been ‘What Would Batman Do?’ and although it doesn’t give you a step-by-step guide to Batman’s antics, it pushes you in the direction of the world’s greatest detective. It gives you insights into the mind of Batman who is a symbol of everything good in Gotham, but for the good guys only, and is the worst nightmare for those who try to destroy the peace in the city.

Written by Glenn Dakin, this book is divided into five sections, each of which tackles the different sides of Batman’s personality. If ‘Become A Hero’ instructs you to know your mission in life, dress to impress or be mysterious, ‘Fight Smart’ tells you the importance of having a base of operations like the Batcave, develop a secret side that no one knows about and the value of having the right arsenal in your armoury.

In the next three chapters — ‘Get Connected,’ ‘Know Your Enemies’ and ‘Become A Legend’ — you will be told what it takes to become someone trusted by your friends, a person feared by the enemies and in return become a legend. Don’t get me wrong, this book doesn’t inspire you to be a superhero, but a hero in real life. The way it explains the Batman ideology is spot on and makes you understand life differently.

Every page in this book is accompanied by either a Batman quote, a picture or both, giving you two things for the price of one.

He might not be speaking to you through this book, but he has all the advice you’ll need to become a legend. Just go through these pages and you will be able to relate to your favourite superhero and understand the importance of the way he works, and it might even make you change a thing or two in your routine.

How can you be like Batman, you might ask? Well, he has a Batcave, you have a room. If he can keep it under control, so can you by arranging your wardrobe and keeping things close. Also, Batman’s success is due to the fact that he knows which weapon to use at what time, and if you can understand the importance of that one thing, then you can be a superhero in your own way.

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 23th, 2023