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sarakomo 's review for:
Girl Decoded: A Scientist's Quest to Reclaim Our Humanity by Bringing Emotional Intelligence to Technology
by Carol Colman, Rana El Kaliouby
2021: I genuinely loved this book, but I think it might be because I have learned SO MUCH about unconscious bias recently.
El Kaliouby is a strong, ambitious, motivated, and SMART woman who won't take no for an answer. She has a tumultuous past, but perseveres (and benefits from her father's high ranking job / affluence). When she finally moves to the United States, and is working at MIT while also wear a hijab and trying to be a Muslim woman securing funding in a white male dominated space, her memoir really shines.
There's a lot of back and forth between el Kaliouby and her ex-husband, which I was sort of done with. I know that it's pretty impossible for me to have put myself in her shoes, as I did not grow up in Egypt, nor do I understand a culture where religion rules such a large percentage of her life. So I could have used less of that. But I know that she would not be where she is today without having experienced it all, so essential to include in her memoir! Overall, I enjoyed el Kaliouby's exploration of her faith, and how her expression of it changed throughout her life.
If you're interested in unconscious bias at all, I would highly recommend watching Coded Bias, a documentary available on Netflix. It does a great job of exploring not only how women are marginalized by AI, but in particular Black women. It's an essential watch in 2021 in my opinion.
-1 point for calling her book Girl Decoded when el Kaliouby is literally a grown adult with children. Why must we insist upon referring to women as girls in order to sell books?! (cc: [b:The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo|2429135|The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1)|Stieg Larsson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327868566l/2429135._SX50_.jpg|1708725], [b:Lab Girl|25733983|Lab Girl|Hope Jahren|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1441826687l/25733983._SX50_.jpg|45572105], [b:Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl|25065629|Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl|Carrie Brownstein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1435507354l/25065629._SY75_.jpg|44749816], [b:#Girlboss|18667945|#Girlboss|Sophia Amoruso|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390931472l/18667945._SY75_.jpg|26493608], [b:The Girl on the Train|22557272|The Girl on the Train|Paula Hawkins|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1574805682l/22557272._SX50_.jpg|41107568] (SHE IS LITERALLY 33 IN THIS ONE GTFO), etc etc the list goes on and on)
El Kaliouby is a strong, ambitious, motivated, and SMART woman who won't take no for an answer. She has a tumultuous past, but perseveres (and benefits from her father's high ranking job / affluence). When she finally moves to the United States, and is working at MIT while also wear a hijab and trying to be a Muslim woman securing funding in a white male dominated space, her memoir really shines.
There's a lot of back and forth between el Kaliouby and her ex-husband, which I was sort of done with. I know that it's pretty impossible for me to have put myself in her shoes, as I did not grow up in Egypt, nor do I understand a culture where religion rules such a large percentage of her life. So I could have used less of that. But I know that she would not be where she is today without having experienced it all, so essential to include in her memoir! Overall, I enjoyed el Kaliouby's exploration of her faith, and how her expression of it changed throughout her life.
If you're interested in unconscious bias at all, I would highly recommend watching Coded Bias, a documentary available on Netflix. It does a great job of exploring not only how women are marginalized by AI, but in particular Black women. It's an essential watch in 2021 in my opinion.
-1 point for calling her book Girl Decoded when el Kaliouby is literally a grown adult with children. Why must we insist upon referring to women as girls in order to sell books?! (cc: [b:The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo|2429135|The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1)|Stieg Larsson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327868566l/2429135._SX50_.jpg|1708725], [b:Lab Girl|25733983|Lab Girl|Hope Jahren|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1441826687l/25733983._SX50_.jpg|45572105], [b:Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl|25065629|Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl|Carrie Brownstein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1435507354l/25065629._SY75_.jpg|44749816], [b:#Girlboss|18667945|#Girlboss|Sophia Amoruso|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390931472l/18667945._SY75_.jpg|26493608], [b:The Girl on the Train|22557272|The Girl on the Train|Paula Hawkins|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1574805682l/22557272._SX50_.jpg|41107568] (SHE IS LITERALLY 33 IN THIS ONE GTFO), etc etc the list goes on and on)