Decoding the World: A Roadmap for the Questioner

Recently, a friend of mine, Laurel Touby, invited 25 people (including me) to the virtual launch of a new book “Decoding the World” by Po Bronson (7-time New York Times best selling author) and Arvind Gupta (early-stage biotech investor and founder of IndieBio).This book launch was no “I’m feeling hungry, let me go to the kitchen and get a snack” virtual event. The two authors were so engaging and thought provoking that I wrote 7 pages of notes.A few days later I signed onto Amazon and ordered their book.In a bygone era, we might have called “Decoding the World” a collection of short stories, or perhaps, vignettes.But today, and particularly for this book, a better way to think of this book may be to understand that it consists of a collection of 33 “code snippets,” each of which contains encoded knowledge.Some of this encoded knowledge is about the usual suspects (“CRISPR,” “the Genetic Revolution,” “Cancer Risks”) and some it is about some very unusual suspects (the “Color Blue,” “ James Bond Villains”).I polished off the first 13 pages in short order.Than I arrived on page 14, where Po lays a quote on the reader from a Confucian scholar around 300 CE named Xunzi: “Practicing is greater than knowing. “Practicing” means trying, it means acting, it means doing.”I spent 20 minutes thinking about the implications of the two paragraphs about “doing” on page 14. Watching 100 videos on YouTube may be helpful to get a smattering of knowledge about how to ride a bike, but sitting down on a bike seat and starting to pedal is “doing”, and that “action” will lead you to a greater knowledge.This is a non-linear book. If you have time to read one chapter, try Chapter 7: “What Colors are this Dress?” It’s about the color blue. It’s only 8 pages and it contains code snippets within code snippets. Reading this chapter could be dangerous to your TV watching time. Once you experience this chapter you may get totally hooked into reading the whole book.

Loved every piece of it! Very easy to read and lots of fun real life experiences well narrated by authors. Great source of knowledge to understand Today’s world complexity and what’s coming if we don’t take human and planetary health seriously. Enjoy!

The book is for anyone who has a curiosity about the BioTech Industry, but without a Biology background, or for someone who wants to get in the minds of the accelerators' directors just to get a sense of how much of a workaholic you have to be to take those roles... The most advanced technologies are discussed in the format of an essay. But the most exciting part is how the authors both have such a strong ability to associate different dots across thousands of years of history or from totally unrelated industries to form new ideas or questions. It's so cool to be a questioner.

Arvind and Po have decoded the strange problems in biology, technology and how we will build the future. Just brilliant.

Decoding the World by Po Bronson and Arvind GuptaPublished: Twelve and Hatchette Book GroupRelease Date: October 6, 2020Reviewed by: mrsboone1 and 4, Green Forest, AR, USAReview: 3 StarsArvind has started Indiebio as a way for startups to investigate the biggest natural mysteries that plague our planet. He brought Po onboard. They begin by listing what the problems are: Bees and bats disappearing, pandemics, cancer.They talk about the issues and what can be done to solve these problems. The idea of the book sounds good, but I found that I simply couldn't get into the story. It may be a wonderful book, just not for me.I was provided a complimentary copy of this book from Twelve and Hatchette Book Group and was under no obligation to post a review.

Fascinating book and quite the page turner.

very informative

First, I am a Po Bronson fan, having rented a room from him back in 1990, back when he was still an MFA and playing soccer. What a nice person! Years later, I read two of his finance-related novels, each deserving 5 stars. He then started writing nonfiction, which disappointed me as they seemed journalistic, which seems less creative to me, such as "what do I do with my life," which topic I can imagine being assigned in college. Decades later, I now have Po's latest book, which is fantastic and filled with exciting ideas, written in entertaining Po fashion, which makes you feel like you are sitting and chatting with a very interesting person. This book is a short cut to understanding biotech and current issues, with plenty of thought experiments. These aren't my typical topics so my world has opened up thanks to this book.

Hier wird ein guter Überblick gegeben, welche Chancen uns Probleme uns in der Zukunft auf uns warten und wie sie möglicherweise gelöst werden können.

Opening my eyes on interesting subjects