Should we follow those who seek the truth, or those who say they have found it? Sven Michaelsen’s answer is clear: the key to whether we consider our lives successful or misspent is in asking ourselves and our neighbours the right questions. Opinions and claims aren’t what bring insights; the curvy question mark is what matters. Whether love or happiness, loneliness or shame, desire or fidelity: the art of living means adopting a different approach to the fraught space between contradictory answers, perceiving it as poetry of thought and the basis for smart choices. After 777 questions, we understand: unless we are willing to face ourselves, we will not find anyone else, either.

Do you get bored by people who only ever ask themselves things they already know the answers to? Have you been waiting ages for someone to finally ask you the revelatory questions that make you realise what you’re truly made of, deep down? That reveal to you your hidden desires and self-delusions? That make you understand why nobody thinks about you the way you think about yourself? In these 666 questions, Sven Michaelsen sends readers on a journey of self-discovery through the brain, heart and belly that’s as instructive as it is hilarious. By the end of it, you’ll be seeing yourself and your life with fresh eyes.

Should you judge a person based on the questions they ask or the answers they give? Sven Michaelsen's reply is unambiguous. Asking ourselves and others the rights questions decides whether our life is successful or wasted. It isn't opinions and assertions that lead us to truth and understanding, it's the curvy question mark. This book shuns run-of-the-mill wisdoms proclaimed by self-professed life coaches to focus instead on the art of smart reflection – on love and happiness, money and a high-flying career or sex and beauty. Michaelsen's writing is at times entertaining and humorous, at times instructive and sombre. Reading Michaelsen's book of 800 questions will teach you more about yourself than ever before.