Q

byLani Watson

The Hidden Power of Questions in a World That Wants Answers

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Our lives are shaped by questions: they are how we connect, persuade and flourish. But we live in a world that wants answers.

Questions are engines of learning, catalysts for connection, and drivers of change. They direct our attention and make us feel closer to loved ones and strangers alike. In fact, we are the only species that truly asks questions of one another.

But school trains us to answer, not ask. Workplaces reinforce that, and technology feeds us solutions before we’ve described the problem. The result is that we live in an answer-rich, question-poor world. Yet, from doctors’ surgeries to courtrooms to dating, the ability to ask questions determines our experiences. In a world obsessed by answers, asking better questions is powerful.

Q takes us on a transformative journey into the art and science of questioning and will shift your perspective on the world. In a captivating narrative from the death of Socrates to the age of AI, Lani Watson draws on research in psychology, philosophy and neuroscience to show how questions play a vital role in our individual lives and in our shared human story.

Q will make you think about the questions you ask and the ones you don’t. It is a life-enhancing invitation to harness the hidden power of our most underappreciated human skill.

Somewhere along the way, we confused intelligence with knowing answers – and that confusion is holding us back. Lani Watson traces this mistake from the classroom to the boardroom, building a case that is both unsettling and oddly freeing. Q is one of those rare books that hands you back a capability you didn't realize you'd lost

Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and The Power of Regret

About Lani Watson

Dr Lani Watson is fascinated by questions. She is a philosopher and Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, and formerly Research Fellow at the University of Oxford.


She has spent nearly two decades studying the art and science of questioning. She has worked in schools and courtrooms, hospitals and press rooms, and in the heart of Silicon Valley. Across all her research, she has drawn one conclusion: questions are powerful. And if we learn to use them, we can harness their power for good.
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Details
  • Imprint: Bodley Head
  • ISBN: 9781847927842
  • Length: 320 pages
  • Price: £22.00
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