The best way to learn comes by simply asking questions. It's truly one of the most useful skills you can acquire. In Ask a Little-Learn a Lot, author R. W. A. Mitchell teaches you how to ask the kinds of questions that have changed our world. Lively, fun, and easy to read, Ask a Little-Learn a Lot includes examples of some of the best questions ever asked, illustrated with examples from a wide range of topics including mathematics and science, philosophy, game theory, gambling, lucky numbers, and even game shows. You can learn how to learn, just by asking questions! This guide explores questions based on the following, among other things: What kinds of questions are asked by the greatest thinkers? How can you surf the North Pole? How can you type like a monkey? How you can win on Let's Make a Deal You can also learn about the peculiar and tricky questions that make up paradoxes and about the weird science of Wile E. Coyote! Ask a Little-Learn a Lot communicates that the best way to explore new ideas comes simply by asking questions. When you ask questions, you learn things. Thinking inspires. And with a bit of imagination, it creates.
Ask a Little—Learn a Lot
How Questions Change EverythingBy R. W. A. MitchelliUniverse, Inc.
Copyright © 2012 R. W. A. Mitchell
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4759-3378-9Contents
About the Author...........................................................................................vIntroduction...............................................................................................ixChapter 1. Ask Away!.......................................................................................1Chapter 2. Questions: Not a Trivial Pursuit................................................................9Chapter 3. A Good Question about Questions.................................................................15Chapter 4. A Good Question about Thinking..................................................................19Chapter 5. Questions That Moved the World..................................................................27Chapter 6. Why Can't We Ever Just Sit Still?...............................................................31Chapter 7. How Fast is Fast?...............................................................................37Chapter 8. How Big Is Big?.................................................................................41Chapter 9. A Paradox in the Game of Baseball...............................................................49Chapter 10. A Good Question to Ask Ketchup.................................................................53Chapter 11. How to Surf the North Pole.....................................................................57Chapter 12. One Hot Question about Global Warming..........................................................63Chapter 13. Why Don't We Make Math More Fun?...............................................................67Chapter 14. Wanna Flip for It?.............................................................................73Chapter 15. There's a Sucker Born Every Minute.............................................................83Chapter 16. Luck, Be a Lady Tonight........................................................................87Chapter 17. Stay or Switch?................................................................................97Chapter 18. The Art of Selling Valuable Baseball Cards....................................................103Chapter 19. Friend or Foe?.................................................................................107Chapter 20. Why Do Things Move the Way They Do?............................................................111Chapter 21. Wile E. Coyote—Supergenius, or What?.....................................................117Chapter 22. Can Anybody Turn Lead into Gold?...............................................................121Chapter 23. Gravity Sucks!.................................................................................127Chapter 24. What Weighs More?..............................................................................133Chapter 25. Bankers and Their Adventures with Scientists...................................................135Chapter 26. Aha! Now I Get It..............................................................................141Chapter 27. Experiments You Can Do in Your Head............................................................147Chapter 28. Einstein's Relatively Good Questions...........................................................151Chapter 29. How Small Is Small?............................................................................159Chapter 30. Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?.....................167Chapter 31. What to Ask about Yourself.....................................................................173Chapter 32. Ask a Little—Listen a Lot................................................................177Chapter 33. One Last Thought—Think!..................................................................181Further Reading............................................................................................185Index......................................................................................................187
Chapter One
Ask Away!
"To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science." —Einstein
The best way to explore new ideas comes by simply asking questions. When you ask questions, you learn things. It naturally follows that the more questions you ask, the more you can learn. Many of your thoughts and much of what you say should end with question marks.
Question anything and everything about the world around you. When you learn to ask questions that no one else ever asked, thought of asking, or perhaps dared to ask, I guarantee you will start on a path that will lead you to amazing discoveries for yourself, and quite possibly for the rest of us too.
In life, you will always be presented with ideas put to you as facts. Why believe any of it without asking and thinking? The danger of not questioning and not thinking for oneself comes from one of the most disturbing, yet compelling, quotes from one scary man:
"What luck for rulers, that men do not think." —Hitler
Around the beginning of the twentieth century, there were amazing changes going on in the sciences, physics in particular. Old ideas were challenged, and many of the new ones turned hundreds, and even thousands, of years of thinking on its head. You'll read about the revolutionary ideas of modern physics in later chapters.
One important question came up in the art world in the early 1900s after the invention of the camera. Prior to photography, the best artists were those who could draw or paint the most lifelike representations of interesting subjects. After the camera arrived and its technology had been refined, artists and critics started to ask themselves, "What is the point of art if we can just take a picture instead?" This simple question gave rise to new meaning in the world of art and ushered in the age of modern art. Art was not just about representing images anymore. Art became about new ways of looking at subjects.
Photography eventually became an art form in itself. In fine art photography, images come from the creative vision of the photographers. They often make use of unique perspectives and fresh ways of capturing even the most commonplace subjects. Photographs taken by American photographer Ansel Adams, which are black-and-white images of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park, are truly remarkable and focused on the way he perceived light.
This new way of thinking, by reexamining old ideas and questioning them, spilled over into other disciplines and spawned even more revolutions in the arts.
In classical music, most composers at the turn of the twentieth century continued on in the tradition of nineteenth-century music. As modernism grew increasingly important, composers such as Mahler, Debussy, and Stravinsky began to produce music with new forms, timbres, and orchestration. Electronic music made its debut later, when composers began to move away from the classical sounds of stringed instruments. It started with the Theremin. This odd instrument was used in the Star Trek theme song and continues to be featured in many other contemporary tracks.
Modern jazz would come later, based on new ways of looking at and reinterpreting traditional jazz. Miles Davis became one of the greatest...
