Book SummaryA More Beautiful Question, by Warren Berger

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of A More Beautiful Question

Asking questions is a crucial part of critical thinking: Questions are how you increase your knowledge, and searching for answers to your questions is the basis of creativity. However, as you grew up, you likely fell out of the habit of asking questions. In A More Beautiful Question, Warren Berger highlights three fundamental questions—“why?,” “what if?,” and “how?”—which you almost certainly asked all the time as a child. He explores how to use these questions effectively as an adult, arguing that by asking the right questions, you can discover how to succeed in both business and life.

Berger started his career as a journalist, where he re-learned the importance of asking questions. Now, he...

A More Beautiful Question Summary Why We Need Questions

Berger begins by explaining that asking questions is the basis of learning. If your question has a concrete answer—whether it’s as simple as “What’s one plus one?” or as complex as “How does nuclear fission work?”—then you’ll learn something new once you find that answer.

(Shortform note: In addition to helping you learn concrete information, an unexpected benefit of asking questions is boosting your emotional intelligence—your capacity to understand your and others’ emotions. Some experts say that asking questions therefore creates a process of constant self-improvement: By asking questions, you increase your emotional intelligence, which allows you to ask better questions, and so on.)

However, Berger points out that not all questions have straightforward answers. Searching for answers to those more nebulous questions is the basis of creativity. If your question doesn’t have a concrete answer (like, “How can I express my feelings through art?”) or the answer hasn’t been fully discovered yet (such as, “What is dark matter?”) that same curiosity might drive you to create a new painting or make a new scientific...

A More Beautiful Question Summary The Fundamental Questions

We’ve discussed the background information of questioning: why asking questions is a crucial part of learning and why people tend to stop asking questions. Now, we’ll discuss Berger’s lessons about relearning how to ask important questions.

To start, we’ll review the three fundamental questions—the titular “beautiful questions”—which are “why?”, “what if?”, and “how?”. These words form the basis of questions that can increase your knowledge and invoke your creativity to solve problems.

“Why?” (and “Why Not?”)

The first of the three fundamental questions is “why?”. Berger says this is the first type of question you should ask when you’re faced with a difficult or unfamiliar situation. Despite their simplicity, “why” questions have the power to help you understand complicated issues and challenge your assumptions.

For example, most people simply accept that they need to sleep. However, when somebody thought to ask why people need to sleep, it created an entirely new branch of science dedicated to answering that question.

(Shortform note: When faced with a problem or an unfamiliar situation, [try to ask two or three “why?”...

A More Beautiful Question Summary Ask Questions in Business and in Life

Now that we’ve reviewed the fundamental questions, this section will explain how you can use those questions to find success in business and life.

Ask Questions to Succeed in Business

Berger says that, just like schools, many companies value knowledge and obedience over curiosity and creativity. However, the most successful companies are those that encourage employees to ask questions and search for innovative answers. Even if you’re not in a leadership position at work (and therefore can’t encourage others to ask questions), you can still ask questions yourself and try to convince your coworkers and bosses that such questions are highly valuable.

The modern business world changes quickly, and companies need to frequently reinvent themselves to stay relevant. That’s why employees and leadership alike should always be asking fundamental questions, such as:

• Why do some people choose our competitors instead of us?
• Why not try to reach a new demographic? How could we do that?
• What if we updated our mission statement to better reflect today’s values?
• What if a new startup disrupts our market, as Uber did to taxis?
• Why not let our employees work...

Shortform Exercise: Ask Yourself Some Important Questions

You’ve learned the three fundamental questions and how you can use them to find success in both business and life. Now, ask yourself a few key questions about your career and your personal life.

Why do you work at your current job? (For example, is it just for money? Does it give you a sense of fulfillment? Are you serving a cause you believe in?)