In a captivating memoir an Egyptian American visionary and scientist provides an intimate view
of her personal transformation as she follows her calling to humanize our technology and how we
connect with one another. LONGLISTED FOR THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD A vivid
coming-of-age story and a call to each of us to be more mindful and compassionate when we
interact online. Arianna Huffington NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY PARADE Rana el
Kaliouby is a rarity in both the tech world and her native Middle East: a Muslim woman in
charge in a field that is still overwhelmingly white and male. Growing up in Egypt and Kuwait
el Kaliouby was raised by a strict father who valued tradition yet also had high expectations
for his daughters and a mother who was one of the first female computer programmers in the
Middle East. Even before el Kaliouby broke ground as a scientist she broke the rules of what
it meant to be an obedient daughter and later an obedient wife to pursue her own daring
dream. After earning her PhD at Cambridge el Kaliouby now the divorced mother of two moved
to America to pursue her mission to humanize technology before it dehumanizes us. The majority
of our communication is conveyed through nonverbal cues: facial expressions tone of voice
body language. But that communication is lost when we interact with others through our
smartphones and devices. The result is an emotion-blind digital universe that impairs the very
intelligence and capabilities including empathy that distinguish human beings from our
machines. To combat our fundamental loss of emotional intelligence online she cofounded
Affectiva the pioneer in the new field of Emotion AI allowing our technology to understand
humans the way we understand one another. Girl Decoded chronicles el Kaliouby s journey from
being a nice Egyptian girl to becoming a woman carving her own path as she revolutionizes
technology. But decoding herself learning to express and act on her own emotions would prove to
be the biggest challenge of all.
