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Q
  • Published: 27 September 2026
  • ISBN: 9781847927842
  • Imprint: Bodley Head
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $65.00

Q

The Hidden Power of Questions in a World that Wants Answers

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
1 Sept 2026
EBook
27 Aug 2026
Audiobook
27 Aug 2026
Hardback
27 Sept 2026
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A mind-expanding book about the hidden power of questions in an answer-oriented world, and how we can harness their power for good and work together to build a fairer and richer question-oriented future.

Our lives are shaped by questions: they are how we connect, persuade and flourish. But we live in a world that wants answers.

Questions are engines of learning, catalysts for connection, and drivers of change. They direct our attention and make us feel closer to loved ones and strangers alike. In fact, we are the only species that truly asks questions of one another.

But school trains us to answer, not ask. Workplaces reinforce that, and technology feeds us solutions before we’ve described the problem. The result is that we live in an answer-rich, question-poor world. Yet, from doctors’ surgeries to courtrooms to dating, the ability to ask questions determines our experiences. In a world obsessed by answers, asking better questions is powerful.

Q takes us on a transformative journey into the art and science of questioning and will shift your perspective on the world. In a captivating narrative from the death of Socrates to the age of AI, Lani Watson draws on research in psychology, philosophy and neuroscience to show how questions play a vital role in our individual lives and in our shared human story.

Q will make you think about the questions you ask and the ones you don’t. It is a life-enhancing invitation to harness the hidden power of our most underappreciated human skill.
  • Published: 27 September 2026
  • ISBN: 9781847927842
  • Imprint: Bodley Head
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $65.00
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About the author

Lani Watson

Dr Lani Watson is fascinated by questions. She is a philosopher and honorary fellow at the University of Edinburgh, and formerly a research fellow at the University of Oxford. She has spent nearly two decades studying the art and science of questioning – working in schools and courtrooms, hospitals and press rooms, and in the heart of Silicon Valley. Across all her research, she has drawn one conclusion: questions are powerful. And if we learn to use them, we can harness their power for good.
LW

Praise for Q

Will you find this book fascinating, thoughtful, enlightening? No question. Q is one of those rare books that alters how you interact with the world – an excellent read

David Edmonds, author of Death in a Shallow Pool

By teaching us to value inquiry over certainty, Lani Watson shows us how we can use the radical, transformative potential of questioning. An essential guide for anyone committed to the collective quest for a more just and curious future

Kate Pickett, author of The Good Society

Answers are only as good as the questions you ask. In fast-moving workplaces fixated on answers and output, Lani Watson helps us harness the power of asking the right questions

Elaine Lin Hering, author of Unlearning Silence

Humans are constitutionally questioning mammals: to thrive personally, societally and politically we need to interrogate ourselves and our worlds properly. In this exhilarating, humane, rigorous and wise book, Lani Watson exhorts us to act in accordance with our constitution, and shows us how. Q is what philosophy should be - fizzing, sparking and catalytic

Charles Foster, author of Being a Beast

With Lani Watson as our great and rare guide, Q shows us there is a magic in questions – and, even better, the power behind that magic is easier to tap into than you might think … This is your ‘Q’ to dive in

Larry Robertson, author of Great Question

Somewhere along the way, we confused intelligence with knowing answers – and that confusion is holding us back. Lani Watson traces this mistake from the classroom to the boardroom, building a case that is both unsettling and oddly freeing. Q is one of those rare books that hands you back a capability you didn't realize you'd lost

Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and The Power of Regret

In a world saturated with easy answers, Watson celebrates the power of a good question. Every great adventure starts with a question, and this is the book to start us off

Jonny Thomson, author of The Art of Enough and founder of @philosophyminis

Powerful and beautifully written, I didn’t want to put Q down: I wanted to absorb all of Lani Watson’s wisdom and run out into the real world and act on it. By giving us back a simple tool we’ve had all along – the tool of questioning – Q empowers us all. This is a book that could change lives

India Rakusen, award-winning presenter, journalist and narrative audio producer

Why did I enjoy Q so much? For its clarity, curiosity and thought-provoking ideas? Does Socrates live still through Watson and her readers? Might we change ourselves and the world through more and better crafted questions? Read Q and find out

Shami Chakrabarti, author of Human Rights