Curious
A book about the day you stopped asking why.
Every Thursday, I walked into history class five minutes late. On purpose. Once I told my teacher a herd of penguins had blocked the road. What I did not understand back then: my creative energy was intact. It was just pointed in the wrong direction. This book is about where our curiosity goes. And how we get it back.
What you'll learn
- ->The 107-to-zero cliff: Why children between 14 months and five years ask 107 questions an hour on average, and adults almost none. And why research on state curiosity shows that curiosity responds to conditions. The decline is learned.
- ->The BLOCK model: The five barriers that kill curiosity in adults, from Blame Culture to Knowledge Hoarding. With stories from Pixar, Google, Microsoft, and German conference rooms.
- ->The SPARK model: Five trainable conditions under which curiosity returns. State curiosity, triggered often enough, becomes trait curiosity. The spark becomes a fire.
- ->AI as a curiosity partner: Why asking becomes the most valuable skill in the AI age. Plus concrete routines that make AI amplify your curiosity.
Who it's for
For professionals who sense they have stopped asking. Who have mastered their job. That is exactly the problem. Who work with AI and refuse to settle for producing the same things faster. For everyone who knows that quiet ache: "I know a lot about my field, but it does not excite me anymore."
Work in progress. Release date to be announced. Newsletter subscribers hear first. You can read chapter 1 now.
14 chapters. One goal.
- 01
The Day You Stopped Asking Why
Where your questions went. And why the motor is still running.
Read the excerpt107 questions per hour - 02
The BLOCK
Five forces that stall curiosity. And a publishing house that had stopped asking.
5 barriers - 03
B · Blame Culture
Why the best teams report the most errors.
2.5 times more attempts - 04
L · Lack of Time
"No time" is a decision. You can make it differently.
23 minutes to refocus - 05
O · Overwhelm
When abundance becomes the enemy: tabs, jam, Netflix.
87 open tabs - 06
C · Comfort Zone
The cage you build from your own success.
$300B to $3T - 07
K · Knowledge Hoarding
The art of pretending to know. And how to stop.
85 and glad to be corrected - 08
The Motor Was Never Broken
One book in 2014. 101 books in 2019. Same brain, different conditions.
1 to 101 books - 09
S · Safety
The oxygen curiosity breathes.
180 teams - 10
P · Permission
Nobody gives you permission. You write it yourself.
45 minutes of nodding - 11
A · Attention
Stay with a question long enough for something to happen.
1,097 walked past - 12
R · Rest
Walk, sleep, do nothing. That is where connections form.
60% more ideas when walking - 13
K · Kindness
Be kind to yourself so beginning stops hurting.
The first 10 minutes - 14
Stay Curious
You do not need 107 questions an hour. One real question today is enough.
1 question a day
One book in 2014. 101 books in 2019.
In October 2014 I bought Made to Stick. One book. Five years later it was 101 in a single year.
What happened?
Atomic Habits by James Clear. It showed me that the conditions for a behavior matter more than the willpower behind it. Kindle on the pillow. Social media off the phone. And from then on: "I'm a reader." Identity first, behavior follows.
The same brain. Different conditions.