Some Beautiful Questions
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The Atlantic features AMBQ
Wonderful article on The Atlantic’s website this past week, all about “A More Beautiful Question”—covering the subject, as well as how I’m working with a collaborative team on the book. The author of the piece, Steve Heller, is a leading design journalist and professor (and one of the most prolific book writers around—140 books and counting). He’s obviously a great questioner himself—as evidenced by the astute questions he asked me in our interview.
Read “The Quest to Ask Better Questions” in its entirety (don’t worry—it’s short) at TheAtlantic.com, and if you have any thoughts, add them to the comments section following the article there. I’m sure Steve would appreciate hearing from readers.
The rise of zennovation
What Zen Taught Silicon Valley (And Steve Jobs) About Innovation
Was the revolutionary circular scroll wheel on the Apple iPod inspired by kinhin, the Zen practice of walking in circles while meditating? There’s no hard evidence, but a new book, The Zen of Steve Jobs, suggests a connection. The illustrated and partly fictionalized book, which focuses on the real-life relationship between the late Apple co-founder and a Zen Buddhist priest, juxtaposes the lessons Jobs learned from his Zen master with design breakthroughs in his products. In so doing, the book picks up and expands on a theme also discussed in Walter Isaacson’s recent biography of Jobs: that the great innovator was, himself, greatly influenced by Zen principles and practices.
Which raises a question that may seem crude, aggressively Western, and not at all Zen: Can the rest of us boost our innovation mojo by applying some of these centuries-old principles to modern-day challenges?
This article was originally published by me on FastCoDesign.com. Please click here to read the rest of it.
We have lift-off
A More Beautiful Question to be published worldwide by Bloomsbury
March 2012: I’m pleased to announce that a major international book publisher has purchased the worldwide rights to my next book, A More Beautiful Question: An Inquiry into the Value of Inquiry. The book was recently bought at auction by Bloomsbury, the highly-regarded publisher that brought Harry Potter into the world. I hope they can bring a tiny bit of Harry’s magic to this book.
I’ll be working on the book throughout much of 2012 (with publication the following year) and I could use your ideas, your thoughts, your questions, your help. Click here if you’re interested in being part of the “Beautiful Question” team I’m putting together.
A More Beautiful Question (AMBQ) will be chockfull of great stories that show the connection between a “beautiful question” and a major breakthrough or innovation. Those stories will span business, social issues, and everyday life.
Why do kids ask so many questions? But more importantly: Why do they stop?
Thoughts from Richard Saul Wurman and the comedian Louis C.K.
Are questioners more successful than the rest of us?
A fascinating study suggests the answer is “yes.”
The Fast Company essay that kicked off this project
“Big Innovations Question the Status Quo. How Do You Ask the Right Questions?”
