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Q
  • Published: 1 September 2026
  • ISBN: 9781847927859
  • Imprint: Bodley Head
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $36.99

Q

The Hidden Power of Questions in a World that Wants Answers

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
1 Sept 2026
Hardback
27 Sept 2026
EBook
27 Aug 2026
Audiobook
27 Aug 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.

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.
  • Published: 1 September 2026
  • ISBN: 9781847927859
  • Imprint: Bodley Head
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $36.99

About the author

Lani Watson

Dr Lani Watson is a philosopher and an Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Previously, she was a research fellow at the University of Oxford, a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, a visiting fellow at the University of Connecticut and a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Human Flourishing at the University of Oklahoma. She is fascinated by questions – what they are, how we use them, why we ask them and how we can harness their power for good. Her research focuses on the practice of questioning in everyday life, and she is passionate about applying her expertise to help everyone make the most of asking great questions.
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