Questions are powerful. They direct our attention and reveal our concerns, shape our conversations and our relationships. But throughout our lives we are judged and rewarded for the answers we give, not the questions we ask. As a result, this essential human skill is overlooked and underdeveloped. Q reveals how we can understand the power of questions, share it more evenly, and learn to use it personally, socially and professionally.

Lani Watson takes us on a journey from the death of Socrates to the dawn of AI, drawing on research in psychology, philosophy and neuroscience to show how questions play a vital role in each of our individual lives and in our shared human story. We see how infants begin questioning before they can speak, how questions activate the brain’s reward systems and prime us to learn, and how we are the only species that truly asks questions of one another.

At school, though, we learn to stop asking questions. The cost can be seen all around us, as the ability to ask questions determines our experiences and our interactions everywhere from courtrooms to offices, therapy rooms to hospital wards, and in our closest relationships.

In a world rushing towards answers, Q shows us how deeply questions matter, how we can develop a questioning mindset and what we stand to gain. It is revelatory and life-enhancing – an invitation to recognise our most underappreciated human capacity and harness its hidden power.