Fortune #08

As a child, William Jones asked his mother what clouds were, why rain fell, and where the water went. She could not answer every question, so she encouraged him to look in books.

The published anecdote says he kept reading and became interested in many fields. Some later claims in the old account are hearsay; the exact numbers are not needed to value his curiosity.

A new question often begins with something already known. Jones saw clouds before asking about rain; one answer led to another question. Connections keep ideas from becoming isolated words on a page.

When you meet a new topic, write how it resembles an earlier one and how it differs. If you cannot connect them yet, you have found a useful question to pursue.