Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

A brilliant and fascinating book about Rana El Kaliouby's life's work in emotional AI, from the seeds of the idea before the technology was there to the boom of Siri and Alexa and where they go from here, each step insightful and detailed. It's also a personal memoir interwoven, of her life in Egypt, the cultural pulls between there and the UK/USA, launching a business, starting a family, the dissonance in working in emotional AI and missing emotional cues in real life, and basically working to change the game. So interesting. SAo good.

Girl Decoded: A Scientists Quest to Reclaim our Humanity by Bringing Emotional Intelligence to Technology by Rana El Khalouiy offers a beautiful first-person account of El Khalouiy, an emotional intelligence computer scientist who breaks all the rules within her strict Egyptian culture, and instead of settling down as a stay-at-home mother, taking care of domestic duties, she chose to pursue her lifelong passion of bringing emotional intelligence to technology at the cost of her marriage; a mother of two kids, single and now living in Boston as CEO of a major emotional AI start-up she makes her career happen, offering inspiration, hope and encouragement to millions of women worldwide who’re stuck in patriarchal narratives that no longer serve them.

I would recommend listening to the book if you are not averse to audiobooks. El Khalouiy narrates the book herself and beautifully captures the emotional element of literature, through voice and tone that sometimes is missing in written work (which ironically, as a side note, is synonymous with the mission of Khalouiy’s work – to bring emotion to artificial intelligence). You’ll be comforted by her work, relating to her honesty and hardship as she determinedly carved out a path that no-one had trodden before, both in terms of an ambitious woman breaking traditional, patriarchal barriers in Egyptian society but also bringing emotional intelligence to technology that’s never been done before.

Girl Decoded is a technology memoir about a woman's quest for emotionally intelligent computers and building emotion into AI. Rana el Kaliouby runs her own company, Affectiva, which specialises in Emotional AI, and in this book she charts how she got there as an Egyptian Muslim woman who studied at Cambridge, worked at MIT, and worked out how to prioritise her goals of bringing more empathy technology.

This is a fascinating look at how one person's choices and dream of making computer systems understand human emotions could come together, looking at the difficulties she faced as a woman based thousands of miles away from the places she worked and various culture shocks as she lived in different countries. The book is a mix of memoir focusing on her journey and, during the later part of the book, an introduction to some of the areas in which her work and company have affected technology. It was good to see engagement around data and users opting in, as obviously there are ethical and privacy issues around technology that can 'read' or understand emotions in some way, and it would be interesting to read more about the topic from el Kaliouby's perspective.

It is vital that books about technology, and specifically memoirs about technology, are written by and/or focus on people who aren't white men, not just for encouraging diverse groups of people to think about technology, but also considering different kinds of issues that might come out of technology. Tech shouldn't be the solution to everything, but it's good to hear the perspectives of people who are looking at these issues with different viewpoints, especially people who are pioneers in particular areas of computer science.