Girl Decoded: A Scientist’s Quest To Reclaim Our Humanity by Bringing Emotional Intelligence to Technology

Does technology take away our empathy? This is just one question el Kaliouby sought to address while earning her PhD in computer science. This memoir, cowritten with Colman (coauthor, The New Mobile Age), begins with el Kaliouby’s childhood in Egypt and chronicles her life through becoming an American citizen and CEO of the company Affectiva, which develops technology that detects human emotions. Readers interested in emotional intelligence and technology will be intrigued by the author’s journey, as the account offers more than fascinating scientific facts. We also learn about el Kaliouby’s family and culture, and aspects of various fields such as psychology, computer science, religion, and even romance, as el Kaliouby unfolds the story of her life and personal relationships, and how political climates in both Egypt and America impacted her. She discusses her transition from academic to entrepreneur but also shares her beliefs and missteps in reading the emotions of others while trying to teach computers to do what she herself apparently could not.