Why Is This a Question?: Everything About the Origins and Oddities of Language You Never Thought to Ask

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So, start there. Take that piece you have and flesh it out. Just start where you are, and the other pieces will begin falling into place.

The first thing to do before writing a book is, of course, to come up with an idea—one that can sustain a whole book. If you have the start of an idea, or a few ideas that you’re trying to choose from, that’s great—the first step will be to flesh those out and make sure they’re fully formed. If you don’t have an idea, your first step will be to spend some time brainstorming and seeking inspiration. Idea: We’ll go over how to explore your idea and make sure you’ve nailed down your central conflict and point. And yet, as Berger shows, the most creative, successful people tend to be expert questioners. They’ve mastered the art of inquiry, raising questions no one else is asking—and finding the answers everyone else is seeking. The author takes us inside red-hot businesses like Google, Netflix, IDEO, and Airbnb to show how questioning is baked into their organizational DNA. He also shares dozens of inspiring stories of artists, teachers, entrepreneurs, basement tinkerers, and social activists who changed their lives and the world around them—by starting with a “beautiful question.” In A MORE BEAUTIFUL QUESTION, Berger explores important questions, such as: Amaze and inspire young readers to find answers to questions such as: What's inside my body? Why do I get hungry? Why do lions have fur? Why does metal rust? What is a rainbow? How many animals are in the world? Find out all the answers to these questions and everything you ever wanted to know inside the Why? Encyclopedia. The alphabet we use today is a version of the alphabet used by the Romans to suit Latin more than 2000 years ago – however English is not a Latin-based language, it is a Germanic one so there are discrepancies between the sounds of Old English and the Latin letters.And most important, how can each of us re-ignite that questioning spark—and use inquiry as a powerful means to rethink and reinvent our lives?

We have all heard of gratitude journals, they have almost become trite with over use, but what about starting a question journal? If you need a few questions to get started this book has them. This chapter examines several paradoxes, including the Monty Hall Problem, Simpson's paradox, Berkson's paradox and Lord's paradox. The authors show how these paradoxes can be resolved using causal reasoning. Upper- and Lower-case letters are so named because of their position in the printworks. Lowercase were used more often so sat on the lower tier of trays, closer to the printer. I found myself occasionally interrupting my partner to share things I’d learned in the book. Like, for example, there’s a language in Australia (Guugu Yimithirr) that doesn’t use words for right and left; everything is direction based. So a speaker of that language would say ‘hand me the book that’s west of the lamp,’ instead of saying ‘hand me the book that’s to the right of the lamp.’ This then wires their brain to know where they are relative to north and south for the rest of their lives. Fascinating.

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What’s motivating them to go forward in the story? Not to be confused with the character’s goal, their motivation is the force driving them toward that goal. (In other words, the goal is what they want; the motivation is why they want it). It could be a basic physiological need, necessary for survival; it could be a desire for something bigger, like love, belonging, or achievement. Whatever their motivation, it must be powerful enough to drive all of their decisions and actions in the story. This deep, human need will be what powers your protagonist to overcome the internal and external conflict in pursuit of their goal. This chapter introduces the idea of confounding and describes how causal diagrams can be used to identify confounding variables and determine their effect. Pearl explains that randomized controlled trials (RCTs) can be used to nullify the effect of confounders, but shows that, provided one has a causal model of confounding, an RCT does not necessarily have to be performed to get results. This chapter examines the third rung of the ladder of causation: counterfactuals. The chapter introduces 'structural causal models', which allow reasoning about counterfactuals in a way that traditional (non-causal) statistics does not. Then, the applications of counterfactual reasoning are explored in the areas of climate science and the law. it is a process to uncover and by experimenting and trying new things we build on and get better and better answers This chapter takes a historical approach to the question 'does smoking cause lung cancer?', focusing on the arguments made by Abraham Lilienfeld, Jacob Yerushalmy, Ronald Fisher and Jerome Cornfield. The authors explain that, though cigarette smoking was clearly correlated with lung cancer, some, such as Fisher and Yerushalmy, believed that the two variables were confounded and argued against the hypothesis that cigarettes caused the cancer. The authors then explain how causal reasoning (as developed in the rest of the book) can be used to argue that cigarettes do indeed cause cancer.

Much of the first half of the book profiles the Right Question Institute, a non-profit based in Cambridge, Massachusetts with a staff of just four that teaches question-asking as a “catalyst for microdemocracy.” It’s the kind of place I’d intern at today if I were a recent college grad. I love the concept of Microdemocracy, that we can act democratically in our everyday lives by simply asking questions of our public officials and institutions. There is something empowering about asking questions, though it requires us to be self-confident enough to be vulnerable about our ignorance. Unfortunately, society rewards the bombastic “experts” that claim to have all the answers. Setting: How much worldbuilding should you do before you start writing? We’ll give you some things to consider so you can decide. Deeper connections take time, so you might want to remember these personal questionsyou can use to get to know someone. Berger makes great use of both historical and contemporary examples of educators, innovators and business moguls who, by taking time to ask pointed questions of themselves and their respective industries, have both broadened their understandings of challenging situations and expanded the range of positive possibilities.... A practical testament to the significance of the questioning mind.”If you want to get better answers, ask short and specific questions one at a time. Allowing them to finish their responses before giving follow-up questions will enable them to craft well-thought answers, hence better conversations. More Awesome Questions To Ask

I think my favorite question from a trivia perspective was what is the hardest language to learn, because it looked at so many different ways different languages do their things. But all the chapters offered things I had never learned before. I think this might be a cool book to get someone who is thinking about studying language, as a sort of starter kit. The book is structured into chapters of question which was a refreshing way of laying out the facts. It highlights how being curious and asking the right type of questions can lead us to consider things that we might not have even dream off Some of the most extraordinary, cutting-edge linguistic research and experimentation is used to bring our understanding of linguistics right up to date. Step 2: Develop the Characters – Who is the Protagonist? [How to Develop a Character Before Writing the Story] Books explaining the origins of our most intriguing words and phrases have long proved popular, but they often overlook the true nuts and bolts of language: the origins of our alphabet and writing system; grammatical rules and conventions; the sound structure of language; and even how our brains and bodies interpret and communicate language itself. Why Is This a Question? is a fascinating and enlightening exploration of linguistic questions you’ve likely never thought to ask.

The final chapter discusses the use of causal reasoning in big data and artificial intelligence (AI) and the philosophical problem that AI would have to reflect on its own actions, which requires counterfactual (and therefore causal) reasoning. Why don’t eleven and twelve end in –teen? The rest of our counting system sits in neatly arithmetical sets of ten, so why do these two rulebreakers seem so at odds with the numbers that follow them? Children are notorious for their questions. According to one estimate, they ask around 40,000 questions between ages two and five, driving their parents crazy in the process. Then something happens and most of us stop asking questions. We lose our curiosity. A More Beautiful Question outlines a practical Why / What If / How system of inquiry that can guide you through the process of innovative questioning—helping you find imaginative, powerful answers to your own “beautiful questions.”