The Art of Asking Better Questions: Pursuing Stronger Relationships, Healthier Leadership, and Deeper Faith

by J.R. Briggs

Genres: Leadership, Nonfiction, Christian

224 pages, Paperback

Published October 7, 2025

Reviews

[Rainer Erani · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is easily one of the top five books I’ve read this year—and arguably the best. It should be required reading for anyone who interacts with others. Parents should read this book. Employers should read this book. Pastors should read this book. Friends should read this book. And if you’re none of those—but hope to become one—you should do the world a favor and read it.

The quality of the questions you ask will determine the quality of your life.

If you’d like a more detailed review, text me!

[Campbell Lakatos · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is more formative, a question or an answer? Which is more relational? More human? More childlike? Which does Jesus do more of? I wonder what would change if we were all a little more curious about others...

[Graydon Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fantastic resource for deep questions and considering how to ask good questions! Everyone should read this!

[Temi Agbaje · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Life is better because of questions. They are some of the most valuable and easily accessible tools available to every one of us. When we make a commitment to learn to ask better questions, we experience better marriages and families, cultivate closer friendships, and deepen our faith. We have the opportunity to humanize our places of work, build stronger schools, and create more connected neighborhoods.
Learn to see the world as a question mark, and the journey never ends.
If the quality of your life is determined by the quality of the questions you ask God, yourself, and others, how then will you live into those questions?”

Shout out to my brotha Rainer for recommending this book! I think everyone should read this book especially those in ministry! I realized I suck at asking great questions and now that’s all I want to learn to do! Praying for God to use the things I learned in this book to help me be a more encouraging brother in Christ!

[Kieran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very approachable and asked some interesting questions. It quotes from The Six Conversations (Heather Holleman) and How to Know a Person (David Brooks). My conclusion after reading is that in the context of those two books, The Art of Asking Better Questions doesn’t add a lot of new content on the topic of caring for others through effective conversation. I could see someone who struggled to get something out of one of those finding this approach slightly more helpful, but for someone who consumed the other two and learned from them, this is less valuable. This does spend more time on asking questions of oneself, which is unique. I enjoyed and felt illuminated by that to some extent.

Taken alone, it’s a good book on an important subject. 3.5

A friend (who had also read Holleman and Brooks) made a comment that this one is probably better as a reference book for good questions than as a primary source for conversational skill, which I think is accurate.

[Gabby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that Briggs covered everything from building relationships to Bible study. He shows how asking better questions in one area of life helps us ask better questions in every area.

This was a great New Years Day read - now I can look forward to practicing the art of asking better questions throughout the year.

[Shawn Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing instructive book! So practical about asking great questions. I will revisit multiple times.

[Michael Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Art Of Asking Better Questions" by JR Briggs is a great title for anyone wanting to improve their interaction with other people by asking better questions. In a day and age where many people seem to be self-absorbed and eager to talk about themselves instead of letting others speak, this is a very timely read.

Some of the great topics and points covered include:

- The world has excessive information but a shortage of wisdom.

- 8 obstacles that keep us from asking questions (hint: one of them is self-absorption).

- 4 things needed for asking great questions.

- 4 levels of good questions that can lead to better and deeper relationships.

- The quality of our life is determined by the questions we ask.

- 6 reasons Jesus asked questions and the types of questions He asked.

- Questions to ask yourself when studying the Bible.

- 9 practices for preparing to ask great questions.

- How to improve your capacity for asking questions through asking yourself questions and asking other people questions.

Great book: written from a Christian perspective, full of good spiritual and practical insights, has excellent questions to ask ourselves, includes a very helpful footnotes section for further study, easy to read, and may be finished in a few sittings.

Great read and recommended. I was given a review copy by IVP in exchange for a fair review and appreciate the opportunity.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic—this should be a must-read for anyone going into a leadership role, anyone navigating family/friend relationships, and anyone with a desire to truly be a more thoughtful person. Are you a shifter or supporter? The author gets to the heart of why asking better questions is essential for us today, and if you want to connect at all with others, you should probably ask yourself: how will I choose to schedule time to learn from the wealth of relational treasure in this book? Will I put into practice at least three great questions this week?

[Jeannie Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly thought that as a therapist, I’d have cornered the market on question-asking. After all, I do it all day, every day. But this book has helped me level up my question-asking, learning different ways to ask to illuminate, rather than to segue way to instruction. Will keep this as a handy reference for sure.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Valuable resource! Despite questions throughout it's not a cheat sheet, it doesn't do the work for us, but it's filled with suggestions and questions to spur deepening our own questions and conversations.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audio

[Mike Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book for the basics of why to ask questions and the mental attitude you need to get good results.