These 40 interesting questions ask about things people have noticed, learned or changed their minds about. They’re easy to answer and rarely asked, which is why the answers tend to surprise. Nothing here requires sharing a secret.
Picking a question
Choose a question you’d enjoy answering yourself, and be ready to go first. They work best one at a time, with room for a tangent, rather than as a rapid-fire round.
The second group, “What you know,” is often the best place to start. Most people have a subject they know more about than anyone else in the room, and they rarely get asked about it. It might be a job they did for 30 years or a hobby nobody else in the family shares. Give them the floor.
With older relatives
Questions 29 and 30 lead naturally into family history. “What do you do differently from how your parents did it?” can open a story about a parent, a move or a way of life that has gone. If you want to keep it, our family interview guide explains how to follow up and record it.
For questions about where the world is going, try thought provoking questions. For questions that invite longer stories, see open ended questions.