Much of the first half of the book profiles the Right Question Institute, a non-profit based in Cambridge, Massachusetts with a staff of just four that teaches question-asking as a “catalyst for microdemocracy.” It’s the kind of place I’d intern at today if I were a recent college grad. I love the concept of Microdemocracy, that we can act democratically in our everyday lives by simply asking questions of our public officials and institutions. There is something empowering about asking questions, though it requires us to be self-confident enough to be vulnerable about our ignorance. Unfortunately, society rewards the bombastic “experts” that claim to have all the answers. Deeper connections take time, so you might want to remember these personal questionsyou can use to get to know someone.

I've always been interested in good questions, intrigued from childhood Sunday School days by the biblical admonition to "ask and you shall receive." This book is an easy and interesting read about using questions, with children, with colleagues, and even with yourself. There are some great stories of how questions led to breakthroughs in products, in scientific thinking, in philanthropic work, and other areas. And, this is the first book with an index to all the questions in the book!

In Conclusion

This section may have too many subsection headers. Please help consolidate the section. ( February 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Another way of putting the question is: Why are you climbing the mountain? What is it you are fighting for? What if you just gave it a shot? What if you couldn't fail? How would you end up? How would you feel? Chapter 2 starts with a brief summary of the contributions of Francis Galton and Karl Pearson to the development of statistics in the late 19th Century and early 20th Centuries. The authors blame Galton for keeping the study of statistics on the first rung of the ladder of causation and discouraging any discussion of causality in statistics. Causal analysis using path diagrams is then introduced through the explanations of the work of Sewall Wright. Why don’t eleven and twelve end in –teen? The rest of our counting system sits in neatly arithmetical sets of ten, so why do these two rulebreakers seem so at odds to the numbers that follow them?

Berger's surprising findings reveal that even though children start out asking hundreds of questions a day, questioning "falls off a cliff" as kids enter school. In an education and business culture devised to reward rote answers over challenging inquiry, questioning isn't encouraged—and, in fact, is sometimes barely tolerated. If your story is set in a real place and time period, how familiar are you with this place/time period? You may want to do some research before writing so you can paint an accurate picture of the location/time period you’re using. There is something to learn and to master here that takes you beyond your current doing, knowing and comfort zone.It’s possible that you won’t be able to solidly answer this question until after you’ve started writing—many authors uncover the true heart of their story through the writing process. But if you can figure out your point before writing, you’ll be giving yourself a head start. A More Beautiful Question is a flashy journey through the power of questioning to spark dialog, to bring people together, to upset the world, and too innovate. Berger synthesizes a lot of experience as journalist to look at the role that questioning plays in creativity, and develops a simple model based around "Why?-->What If?-->How?" Where are the layers of depth, resonance, insight, the surprising perceptions, the universal echoes that will grip the reader's heart and intellect?

Why can’t the characters avoid doing what they do? Who will be affected or hurt? Who might be delighted and want to keep this new situation? Who will be provoked to retaliate? (There's your conflict.) Amaze and inspire young readers to find answers to questions such as: What's inside my body? Why do I get hungry? Why do lions have fur? Why does metal rust? What is a rainbow? How many animals are in the world? Find out all the answers to these questions and everything you ever wanted to know inside the Why? Encyclopedia. The second level (or 'rung') on the ladder of causation is labelled 'Intervention'. Reasoning on this level answers questions of the form 'if I make the intervention X, how will this affect the probability of the outcome Y?'. For example, the question 'does smoking increase my chance of lung cancer?' exists on the second level of the ladder of causation. This kind of reasoning invokes causality and can be used to investigate more questions than the reasoning of the first rung.Know what to expect: Level-set your expectations going in. Expect it to be difficult. Expect challenges and problems to pop up, regardless of how prepared you think you are. Know that your first draft is going to be a little bit garbage—and accept that. So much of writing is mindset and mental endurance, so embrace the process, and keep going—even when things get hard. Know that the end result will be worth it!

Curiosity is powerful, and these kinds of questions are an excellent way for anyone to understand themselves, the world they live in, and the people they're with better. Where and when should I ask these types of questions? The rest of our counting system sits in neatly arithmetical sets of ten, so why do these two rule-breakers seem so at odds with the numbers that follow them? The Book of Why was reviewed by Jonathan Knee in The New York Times. The review was positive, with Knee calling the book "illuminating". However, he describes some parts of the book as "challenging", stating that the book is "not always fully accessible to readers who do not share the author's fondness for equations". [2] Berger makes great use of both historical and contemporary examples of educators, innovators and business moguls who, by taking time to ask pointed questions of themselves and their respective industries, have both broadened their understandings of challenging situations and expanded the range of positive possibilities.... A practical testament to the significance of the questioning mind.”

We’re all hungry today for better answers. But first, we must learn to ask the right questions.

As I read the book, bits of wisdom and sparks of recognition came to me slowly but steadily. Warren Berger laid out a very convincing case that we, as a culture had become, through our own impatience and lazy assumptions unlearned our own ability to ask questions. We have become quite good as asking bad questions, lazy question, shallow questions, wrong questions.