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Girl Decoded
Girl Decoded
Oct 10, 2024 10:19 AM

Author:Rana el Kaliouby

Girl Decoded

'Bold, inspired and hopeful' Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global

'Lucid and captivating' Max Tegmark, professor of physics at MIT and author of Life 3.0

A captivating memoir that chronicles one woman's mission to humanise technology and what she learns about humanity along the way.

Now more than ever, we find ourselves unable to express our true feelings through technology. Whether it's a misunderstood text, an oversimplified emoji or a Skype call that leaves us feeling lonely, when most of our communication is carried out through tech, the result is a virtual world that's lacking our humanity - a society lacking in empathy.

Rana el Kaliouby discovered this when she left Cairo, a newly-married, Muslim woman, to take up her place at Cambridge University to study computer science. Many thousands of miles from home, she began to develop systems to help her better connect with her family. She started to pioneer the new field of Emotional Intelligence (EI). She now runs her company, Affectiva (the industry-leader in this emerging field) that builds EI into our technology and develops systems that understand humans the way we understand one another. This is the fascinating story of her mission to humanise technology and what she learns about humanity along the way.

Reviews

Lucid and captivating

—— Max Tegmark, professor of physics at MIT and author of Life 3.0

An honest and inspiring story that will encourage other women to share their experiences and own their power

—— Tory Burch, founder and executive chairman of Tory Burch LLC

Bold, inspired and hopeful

—— Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global

Tells us how to fight to be a financial feminist

—— Daily Mail

Essential reading for all serious feminists and 'femanists' and an important reminder that a lack of female leadership and representation at the top leads to an economic gender equality that affects all women, whatever their income level or role in society

—— Gill Whitty-Collins, author of Why Men Win At Work

Williams is passionate in her mission to educate women about finance... the great strength of this book comes from her generosity of spirit and desire to share her considerable financial expertise, providing a practical, democratic, user-friendly guide to the world of finance

—— i

Annabelle Williams demolishes the idea that women are just worse at negotiating pay, or choose low-wage industries

—— The Times

Sets out to get to the bottom of why the modern world is rigged unfairly in men's favour.

—— Stylist

'This perceptive and rather chatty offering considers the sociological research behind why human beings are so averse to making connections with strangers, and why it's so important to do so. Journalist Keohane is a good storyteller and great proponent of engaging with the unknown, extolling the informational, emotional, and psychological benefits of talking to new people. This authoritative, thoroughly entertaining read comes along just at the right time,
and will help readers re-engage after their long quarantines'

—— Booklist

'The lesson (...) is that the easing of restrictions is not just a coveted opportunity to reconnect with those you love and resemble. It also restores a freedom, long taken for granted, even if a little used, to come to know the profoundly different'

—— Economist

Lively, informative... Nell uses her own experience generously and the effect is inclusive, reassuring and funny. She articulates feelings I've had but never quite explored - it's excellent

—— Amy Liptrot

Incredibly relatable and comforting, addressing the constant comparison and confusion women often face. Frizzell writes beautifully and poetically while reassuring and validating the reader's concerns with hilarious anecdotes from her own panic years. This is an important read for all women who are wondering what should come next, and when.

—— Independent

The Panic Years made me laugh and it made me cry. There’s a rare tenderness to this book that comes from not having felt seen before. It’s for our generation, and Nell gets it. She understands and respects us.

—— Rhiannon Cosslett

A wonderful, candid memoir about the personal and political implications of motherhood, full of humour and fizzing prose. I loved it.

—— Luiza Sauma, author of Flesh and Bone and Everything You Ever Wanted

For someone older, in a different set of panic years altogether, part of the pleasure of this book lies in reminiscence, reflecting and reframing. But it’s also galvanising, engaging and enraging. The personal is political, philosophical, emotional, and very funny. I resisted the urge to highlight everything that made me laugh, or think, or fired me up, because the whole thing would have been one big neon block

——
Jenny Landreth

Breathtakingly good

—— Lauren Bravo

Informs, educates, entertains... This book will resonate with so many readers.

—— Red's top picks of 2020

Brilliant

—— Grazia

A must-read... sharp, funny, it chronicles all of the big decisions a woman is expected to make between the ages of 25-40: where to live, if they should marry, what to do with one's career. And that other biggie: to have a baby or not.

—— Culture Whisper

Ab-definingly funny, The Panic Years captures the female experience perfectly. Discussing all of the large, looming decisions women have to make between their late 20s and early 40s, this is a must-read.

—— ES Magazine

Offers advice and feminist learnings on how to survive when it feels like everyone around you is becoming a parent.

—— Cosmopolitan

Wise, perceptive and refreshingly open...a memoir that feels inherently personal to womanhood and what being a woman means.

—— Culturefly

A must read. Timely, honest, brave and funny calling for a new kind of conversation about love, work and parenthood.

—— Daily Mail

Written in a chatty, instantly endearing vernacular, What It Feels Like For A Girl is a crank-it-up-to-11 account of the British trans experience.

—— Refinery29

Written entirely in Midlands dialect, with each chapter named after a Noughties hit, Paris Lees's novelised account of her Nottingham childhood will make you shake with laughter and weep with heartbreak in the space of a few pages.

—— British Vogue Summer Reads

Set to be one of this summer's must-reads, Paris Lees' debut book is a coming-of-age memoir about her early life in the East Midlands. Written in Nottingham dialect, it's a story of growing up in a small town, with deliciously evocative tales of Noughties nights out.

—— Evening Standard

Energetic, dark and hilarious. Paris Lees, with her loud and proud sense of self, is set to explode.. if you read one book this summer, make it What It Feels Like for a Girl... radically cool, explosive and riotous ... long may Lees' voice shine neon bright

—— Shivani Kochnar , The Daily Mail

Like Alan Sillitoe on acid... it's got to be a film. I've never read anything like it.

—— Vicky McClure

Raw and original

—— Elle Magazine

Extraordinary, riotous, furiously unique, moving and funny, What It Feels Like for a Girl is a deeply important book as well as being a fantastic read

—— Elizabeth Day

Clever, gripping, messy, sad. I loved it.

—— Travis Alabanza

Sadness and joy also go hand-in-hand in What It Feels Like for a Girl, an exuberant account of Paris Lees's tearaway teenage years in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, where "the streets are paved wi' dog shit". Her gender nonconformity is just one aspect of an adolescence that also features bullying, violence, prostitution, robbery and a spell in a young offenders' institute. Yet despite the many traumas, Lees finds joy and kinship in the underground club scene and a group of drag queens who cocoon her in love and laughter.

—— Fiona Sturges , The Guardian, Best Books of 2021

Bold and compulsively readable... She writes with humour about heartbreakingly harrowing moments while simultaneously capturing the dazzling joy of Nottingham nightlife and the importance of finding those who accept you for who you truly are

—— Emma Hanson , Harper's Bazaar, memoirs and autobiographies to be inspired by
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