The Book of Beautiful Questions

October 15, 2018

What's in a question? Plenty, according to business journalist Berger. In an earlier work (A More Beautiful Question), the author explored how the right kinds of questions can spark creativity and innovation. In this follow-up, he delves further into "beautiful questions," which are powerful tools that can transform people's thinking. As a self-styled "questionologist," the author explores how the technique of asking questions can be used to brainstorm ideas, challenge our beliefs, engage with people more fully, and make wiser decisions. Berger focuses on four main areas: decision-making, creativity, connecting with others, and the ever-important realm of leadership. He looks at how asking the right questions can get to the heart of important matters by shifting our perspectives and helping us see issues from more than one angle. After laying the framework of the right questions to ask, the author rounds out the book with a discussion of how to create an inquiring life; the process of questioning instead of reacting; and probing to find solutions to problems. VERDICT This practical work is designed to prompt action and get results.--Carol Elsen, Univ. of Wisconsin, Whitewater Libs.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 20, 2018
Journalist Berger (A More Beautiful Question) repackages familiar business advice for the inquisitive and the reflective. The author, who considers himself a “questionologist,” guides professionals to think deeply about how they can use questions to improve decision making and to inspire creativity, connect with others, and cultivate leadership skills. He believes that the urge to question is gradually socialized out of people as children, when they’re praised for the “right” answer and scolded for the “wrong” one, even though questions are the best way to develop ideas and goals. As to how to foster a “questioning habit,” he advises, “Try to ask at least one naive question before noon tomorrow.” The questions range from the concrete to the lofty, and sometimes include the hackneyed. These are interesting enough thought exercises to help readers in a rut, but as a whole, this is just a run-of-the-mill leadership book with slightly different framing, offering questions instead of answers. Introspective readers, or readers who feel like they can’t get off the hamster wheel, will find this helpful; others will feel they’ve read it all before.

September 1, 2018
The right question at the right time can inspire business empires, scientific insights, revolutions--and, of course, books such as this one.In a book whose title is rather more elegant than its contents, business guru Berger builds on a predecessor, A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas (2013), to examine ways in which being an ardent, avid, active questioner can presumably build businesses, inspire ideas, and otherwise lead to good things in the world. The argument seems--well, inarguable, even if the author, who calls himself a "questionologist," does allow that an all too common response on the part of the managerial class is to demand, "don't bring me questions; bring me answers." What to do with such people? That's a good question, to which the answer is to understand that "having a curious, engaged, and inquisitive workforce presents challenges." Questioning authority is one thing; questioning how and why things are done is another, an exercise that Berger puts in the lap of none other than Steve Jobs, who was in the discomfiting habit of asking why things were being done the way they were at every stop on his round of Apple's offices. "As Jobs took on the role of the inquisitive four-year-old wandering the company," Berger writes, "it had a powerful effect on him and those around him--forcing everyone to reexamine assumptions." Alternating among case studies, series of model questions set within sidebars ("Why do I want to lead this endeavor?"; "Where will I ever find an original idea"; "How can I come up with an idea that will make money?"), and cheerleading, Berger makes a good case for building questioning into work culture and work flow. But a question emerges: Just how many books can this questionology business sustain?There's nothing overly challenging here, but Berger's approach might prime the pump for deeper inquiries.

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