Po Bronson & Arvind Gupta

"In Decoding the World, Po Bronson and Arvind Gupta-two renegade venture capitalists from Silicon Valley-take everyday news headlines and decode them, leading us on a journey through their twisted and highly entertaining view of the world. Each chapter is prefaced with a real-world headline ripped from today's chaotic news cycle: Trump's trade war. Dying bees. Rogue planets. Beyond Meat. Glaciers melting. Bronson and Gupta then decipher what's really going on behind these headlines, and why. What they offer is first-hand experience in funding technologies to solve these problems, most of which involve genetic engineering. But what the authors then do with that premise is always surprising and unexpected. In one paragraph they are ripping it down to the bare bones physics or chemistry, and in the very next paragraph invoking history, philosophy, or psychology-while using literary devices borrowed from the surrealists, along with storylines from popular movies. The narrative holds a tightrope suspense, as we wonder what they'll do next, or what brazen thing they'll say. Decoding the World is the kind of book you get when you give two guys $40 million, a world full of messy big problems, a genetics laboratory to play in, and a set of Borges' collected works. After looking through their lens, you'll never see the world the same"--