How to Know Everything - by Elke Wiss
ISBN: 1787467686Date read: 2022-09-05
How strongly I recommend it: 5/10
(See my list of 360+ books, for more.)
Go to the Amazon page for details and reviews.
Really how to ask better questions. How to learn through conversational questioning and listening.
my notes
Look for answers by talking things through with someone who asks the right questions, so that you can become wiser together.
Flexible thinking is where you decide to switch your point of view or jump aboard another person’s train of thought to see where it takes you.
Bring unconscious ideas, assumptions and beliefs to the surface.
Philosophising: not-knowing, asking questions, searching for answers.
If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first fifty-five minutes determining the proper question to ask.
We ask too many questions out of the blue, and often they are incomplete, suggestive, rhetorical, ill-timed or questions that aren’t questions at all.
A question is an invitation.
An invitation to think, explain, sharpen, dig deeper, provide information, investigate, connect.
A good question is clearly formulated and is born of an open, curious attitude.
A good question remains focused on the other person and their story.
A good question gets someone thinking.
A good question leads to clarification, new insights or a new perspective for the recipient.
A good question is not intended to give advice, check hypotheses, impose a point of view, share an opinion, make a suggestion or leave the other person feeling judged or cornered.
What an in-depth conversation does entail is an exploration of the experience of one of the participants and a closer examination of the ideas, concepts and questions at play, not least notions about human nature.
We might be too enthusiastic in sharing our own story, experience or viewpoint at the expense of exploring the other person’s deep enough first.
An in-depth conversation should be a stimulating and shared undertaking, and a joint search for wisdom.
Talking about yourself feels so much nicer than asking questions.
An opinion makes more of an impression than a question.
The right questions help you think more clearly.
Our own story is not really all that interesting.
The truly intense and enriching conversations are to be found in what other people are thinking.
Becoming wiser is a joint endeavour, and another person’s mind is the place where you can find new insights.
People cling to their opinions even more tightly when confronted with evidence to the contrary.
We tend to use facts like a drunk uses a lamppost. Not for illumination, but simply for support.
Wonder can also be applied to everyday situations.
Choose to look at a situation with wonder.