Book Review: Curious by Ian Leslie
If your sense of curiosity needs a jumpstart, this book is for you—Curious by Ian Leslie, who claims our future depends on the desire to know. Leslie combines both knowledge and research from diverse topics and disciplines to explore the vital role curiosity plays in our careers, our happiness, and our children’s education. Expertly written with scientific facts and studies, psychological analysis, and quality excerpts and anecdotes, Leslie demonstrates the key characteristics of curiosity—an inquisitive and open mind for a rewarding exploration of why humans find the desire to learn and know so irresistible.
Why are we reading this book?
Our team of distinct senior-level experts possess a common trait: curiosity. Because we continuously rely on curiosity in our business, we read this book to glean added insight about how curiosity works and what keeps it active. Every skill needs a refresher course, and we highly recommend Leslie’s exceptional exploration of curiosity. He offers a fascinating tribute to the concepts of curiosity providing many viewpoints and perspectives. According to Leslie, not all have necessarily served us in the past nor will they in the future without considering other options for how best to cultivate curiosity, especially in children.
Backstory:
For the most part, Curious is the backstory of curiosity unlike most books that use a particular incident to devote the balance of the book to tips and problem-solving solutions. Instead, it offers a wealth of information and concerns without necessarily providing all the answers. David Dobbs of the New York Times describes it best in his endorsement: “Stuffed with facts, ideas, questions, quotes, musings puzzles, mysteries, and stories, this is a book—as Montaigne said of travel—with which to ‘rub and polish’ one’s brain.”
Challenge:
Leslie skillfully cites numerous challenges that impact curiosity such as Google. He claims Google is a place to visit when you know your destination whereas curiosity is sustained and thrives by stumbling on to the obscure. Accordingly, he states that innovation relies on the collision of knowledge and ideas and if everyone accesses the same information, it thwarts the discovery of original ideas. Also, since Google can’t tell us what we ought to be asking, it can give us a false sense of knowing.
Solution Steps:
A brief summary of Leslie’s seven ways to cultivate curiosity:
- Stay foolish and fascinated with the unknown to stay ahead of change.
- Build the database to feed the wellspring of creative ideas.
- Forage like a “foxhog,” which combines inventiveness (fox) and one solution (hedgehog) for problem solving.
- Ask the big why, which may sound simple and automatic yet historically, countless examples prove otherwise.
- Be a thinkerer to let curiosity be the driving force rather than resorting to the tried and true.
- Question your teaspoons to gain the benefits of paying attention to the ordinary and mundane.
- Turn puzzles into mysteries because answers lie in the most unlikely places.
Summary:
Leslie asks a lot of questions. He raises plenty of concerns, poses possibilities for solutions, and provides a ‘library’ of resources to determine your own answers. Passionate about igniting children’s curiosity, he does offer ideas for their success as well as our own. However, ultimately he leaves it up to the reader whether or not to believe or be curious about any of it. It’s brilliant and mysterious at the same time. Just like a mystery thriller, you will be glued to this book.