Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
I listened to the summary on Blinkist and thought it was an interesting story on the founder IndieBio.
Decoding the World is a buddy adventure about the quest to live meaningfully in a world with such uncertainty. It starts with Po Bronson coming to IndieBio.
Arvind Gupta created IndieBio as a laboratory for early biotech startups trying to solve major world problems. Glaciers melting. Dying bees. Infertility. Cancer. Ocean plastic. Pandemics.
Arvind is the fearless one, a radical experimentalist. Po is the studious detective, patiently synthesizing clues others have missed. Their styles mix and create a quadratic speedup of creativity. Yin and Yang crystallized.
As they travel around the world, finding scientists to join their cause, the authors bring their firsthand experience to the great mysteries that haunt our future. Natural resource depletion. Job-taking robots. China's global influence.
Arvind feels he needs to leave IndieBio to help startups do more than just get started. But as his departure draws near, he struggles to leave the sanctum he created. While Po has to prove he can keep the "indie" in IndieBio after Arvind is gone.
After looking through their lens, you'll never see the world the same.
Decoding the World is a buddy adventure about the quest to live meaningfully in a world with such uncertainty. It starts with Po Bronson coming to IndieBio.
Arvind Gupta created IndieBio as a laboratory for early biotech startups trying to solve major world problems. Glaciers melting. Dying bees. Infertility. Cancer. Ocean plastic. Pandemics.
Arvind is the fearless one, a radical experimentalist. Po is the studious detective, patiently synthesizing clues others have missed. Their styles mix and create a quadratic speedup of creativity. Yin and Yang crystallized.
As they travel around the world, finding scientists to join their cause, the authors bring their firsthand experience to the great mysteries that haunt our future. Natural resource depletion. Job-taking robots. China's global influence.
Arvind feels he needs to leave IndieBio to help startups do more than just get started. But as his departure draws near, he struggles to leave the sanctum he created. While Po has to prove he can keep the "indie" in IndieBio after Arvind is gone.
After looking through their lens, you'll never see the world the same.
This book will help introduce the reader to some interesting and novel ideas and provides a small snapshot of what is going on in the world of biotech right now. The focus is mainly on opinions regarding the current and potential impact of the technologies mentioned, through the lens of Arvind and Po’s experiences and interests.
However, authors’ seem to be attempting to endear themselves to the reader through their anecdotes, but the tone often comes across as somewhat cheesy or self-aggrandizing instead. This makes reading the essays less enjoyable.
However, authors’ seem to be attempting to endear themselves to the reader through their anecdotes, but the tone often comes across as somewhat cheesy or self-aggrandizing instead. This makes reading the essays less enjoyable.
While this book may of taken me quite sometime to get through that is not indicative of the quality or interest in subject matter. I found this to be a book you savor. Read a chapter and spend tons of time mulling it over and imagining all the ways that we are living in the sci-fi future we were promised. The thing that makes this book so memorable and enjoyable is the message of how we can save our planet, save ourselves, and provide a brighter future for those yet to come. Po Bronson & Arvind Gupta are using the pages of this book to paint a future we can believe in while also showing just how far we need to come.
Thank you to Twelve Books and NetGalley for the Reader's Copy!
Now available.
Po Bronson and Arvind Gupta's "Decoding the World" is a novel concept in that it is not so much as a science book as it is an opinion book. Interspersed with personal texts and autobiographies of both authors lies some scientific explanation of common themes in modern day news articles such as climate change, longevity and genetic engineering. It is a decidedly tech bro friendly series of discussions as both have been heavily involved in the tech start up industry with their company IndieBro. While I found some of their explanations really interesting and novel, for the most part it felt like I was being lectured on opinions without substantial proof. Overall, an okay read.
Now available.
Po Bronson and Arvind Gupta's "Decoding the World" is a novel concept in that it is not so much as a science book as it is an opinion book. Interspersed with personal texts and autobiographies of both authors lies some scientific explanation of common themes in modern day news articles such as climate change, longevity and genetic engineering. It is a decidedly tech bro friendly series of discussions as both have been heavily involved in the tech start up industry with their company IndieBro. While I found some of their explanations really interesting and novel, for the most part it felt like I was being lectured on opinions without substantial proof. Overall, an okay read.
It wasn't a bad book - there were actually parts of it I quite enjoyed - but the authors just weren't really my cup of tea and it felt a bit underdeveloped. Basically, it raised interesting questions and topics, but it didn't dive into any of them as deeply as I would have liked, so I found myself continually frustrated.
informative
slow-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
I have learned of so many different facets of our world all through this one book. The image of the future that it created if terrifying yet compelling and makes me want to lend my hand and help the fight against Inertia. I loved it.
informative
medium-paced
good, it gives you a different perspective on major world issues
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
This book blew me away. I was a bit anxious before I started it, because "the future of humanity" (from the book's original subtitle) seems so grim and I wasn't sure I could handle the details. The authors don't sugar-coat it -- many of Earth's problems are laid bare in this book. But this book did a lot of assuage my anxiety. It is very readable, not totally over my head, but also not condescending. If you are interested in articles from outlets like Popular Science, Scientific American, National Geographic, and Smithsonian, I think this book would interest you.
So many topics are covered -- medicine, COVID-19, various aspects of climate change, intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, genetics, lab-grown meat, human memory, venture capitalists, AI, cryptocurrency... this list barely scratches the surface. It is exciting to read about all the solutions that people are working on right now, and it made me feel a glimmer of hope that we aren't as doomed as I thought.
If I were teaching a creative writing class, I would have my students read this book to brainstorm ideas for speculative fiction.
This book blew me away. I was a bit anxious before I started it, because "the future of humanity" (from the book's original subtitle) seems so grim and I wasn't sure I could handle the details. The authors don't sugar-coat it -- many of Earth's problems are laid bare in this book. But this book did a lot of assuage my anxiety. It is very readable, not totally over my head, but also not condescending. If you are interested in articles from outlets like Popular Science, Scientific American, National Geographic, and Smithsonian, I think this book would interest you.
So many topics are covered -- medicine, COVID-19, various aspects of climate change, intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, genetics, lab-grown meat, human memory, venture capitalists, AI, cryptocurrency... this list barely scratches the surface. It is exciting to read about all the solutions that people are working on right now, and it made me feel a glimmer of hope that we aren't as doomed as I thought.
If I were teaching a creative writing class, I would have my students read this book to brainstorm ideas for speculative fiction.
Decoding the World is a collection of essays going back and forth between authors Po Bronson and Arvind Gupta. Each essay is introduced from a real news headline though how directly or tangentially those headlines relate to the subject varies widely.
Arvind Gupta founded IndioBio and this year, Po Bronson took over as managing director as Gupta went elsewhere. As part of this transition, they co-wrote this book capturing the excitement of the massive changes in how we understand the world through science and looking at the threats to humanity and the planet with some ideas for improvements, even in health care reform.
From saving the bees to creating life, Bronson and Gupta takes us on a wild bioscience ride that is mind-blowing. I often had to stop and read something again not so much to understand it but to accept it. An understanding was fairly easy as both Bronson and Gupta are skilled at communicating complex ideas with effective metaphors and clear prose.
Decoding the World is an excellent introduction to the wild frontier of bioengineering, DNA hacking, and RNA funkiness. It also addresses serious issues such as climate change, inequality and health care reform. Bronson and Gupta are bold thinkers and clear leaders. They write well, explain clearly, and know a lot about a lot.
I did not care for their gimmicky way of introducing ideas with texts or conversations between them. It simply felt like a strategy for two smart men to appear more relatable for those who may be in awe of their intellect. For me, it felt like condescension. I would l like the book better without it.
The danger for people who know a lot is to think they know everything - or at least know how to give their opinion on how to fix everything even when it's completely out of their wheelhouse. The chapter on health care costs was excruciating, a technocrat commenting from the outside and completely missing the point. He had the idea of addressing health the way we would address climate change - but seriously decarbonizing our diet would be good. It won't fix a broken arm for a twelve-year-old child whose parents have no health insurance. Proposing tort reform before universal health care is the sign of someone who really should go back to the drawing board.
But these are small complaints about a book that I like very much. All in all, I like the book and find it an optimistic and ambitious look into the future.
Decoding the World will be published October 6th. I received an ARC from the publisher through Shelf Awareness.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2020/09/11/decoding-the-world-by-po-bronson-and-arvind-gupta/
Arvind Gupta founded IndioBio and this year, Po Bronson took over as managing director as Gupta went elsewhere. As part of this transition, they co-wrote this book capturing the excitement of the massive changes in how we understand the world through science and looking at the threats to humanity and the planet with some ideas for improvements, even in health care reform.
From saving the bees to creating life, Bronson and Gupta takes us on a wild bioscience ride that is mind-blowing. I often had to stop and read something again not so much to understand it but to accept it. An understanding was fairly easy as both Bronson and Gupta are skilled at communicating complex ideas with effective metaphors and clear prose.
Decoding the World is an excellent introduction to the wild frontier of bioengineering, DNA hacking, and RNA funkiness. It also addresses serious issues such as climate change, inequality and health care reform. Bronson and Gupta are bold thinkers and clear leaders. They write well, explain clearly, and know a lot about a lot.
I did not care for their gimmicky way of introducing ideas with texts or conversations between them. It simply felt like a strategy for two smart men to appear more relatable for those who may be in awe of their intellect. For me, it felt like condescension. I would l like the book better without it.
The danger for people who know a lot is to think they know everything - or at least know how to give their opinion on how to fix everything even when it's completely out of their wheelhouse. The chapter on health care costs was excruciating, a technocrat commenting from the outside and completely missing the point. He had the idea of addressing health the way we would address climate change - but seriously decarbonizing our diet would be good. It won't fix a broken arm for a twelve-year-old child whose parents have no health insurance. Proposing tort reform before universal health care is the sign of someone who really should go back to the drawing board.
But these are small complaints about a book that I like very much. All in all, I like the book and find it an optimistic and ambitious look into the future.
Decoding the World will be published October 6th. I received an ARC from the publisher through Shelf Awareness.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2020/09/11/decoding-the-world-by-po-bronson-and-arvind-gupta/