If you could have the answer to only one question…
Mine would be, “When is Italy going to accept that sharp cheddar is a perfectly respectable cheese?”
But seriously. I don’t know if you know this, but Rome is a fantastic city for readers. Why, you can tuck yourself into the corner of almost any piazza and alternate chapters with Rome-watching: tourists, both meandering and frenzied; the odd sniffing dog; whatever ancient monument or landmark happens to be situated within sight (there will be at least one, usually two). Rome is always alive, never meek, and she is always grabbing for your attention. So when you start the first chapter and only look up at the fourteenth, to find it’s almost dark and you’re going to miss aperitivo if you don’t shake a major tail feather, you know you’re reading a good book.
The Question revolves around, wait for it, the idea that there could be a way to receive an answer to any question that you might have, and that there could be people who might fear that question, and try to stop you. But who? And why? I won’t go into details because I’d spoil a series of cool plot twists, but suffice it to say that if you’re looking for a book that spins an interesting storyline while asking compelling, challenging questions, this is one to pick up. You may not agree with all you read – you may agree with none of it – but it will pull you in and hold you until you are thinking, hard, about a whole lot of things: marine biology, neurology, theology (lots of the cool -ologies), the connection between human minds, and the link between the minds of humans and animals, to name a few.
Are you curious? If so, you can pick this baby up on Amazon or the Book Depository, or, if you’re in the USA/Canada, pop over to our friends at iRead Book Tours and scroll to the bottom to enter the giveaway they’ve set up for you this month!
If you read The Question, shoot me an email at younginrome@gmail.com, and let me know what you thought! Did you like it? Did it make you wonder about things you don’t normally think of? Did you disagree with my statement about cheddar cheese? Whatever it is, I’d be thrilled to hear from you, although I won’t change my mind about the cheese.
Happy reading, YiR-ers!
Author’s Bio:
R. Breuer Stearns is an investor and author. Mr. Stearns graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover (1970), Harvard University (AB, 1974), University of Chicago (MBA, 1977), and DePaul University College of Law (JD, 1979). He rapidly ascended on Wall Street in the 1980’s, serving as Managing Director, Mergers & Acquisitions at Lehman Brothers and Head of Investment Banking (North America) at UBS Securities. While living in New York, he founded “Terrific Teachers, Inc.,” a foundation dedicated to identifying and rewarding the best of the best of the city’s public high school teachers.
Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Mr. Stearns launched a private investment bank in the former Soviet Union. He spent the early 1990’s seeking to marry emerging science, primarily emanating from Russia’s Defense sector, with Western capital. During this period, Mr. Stearns made a small fortune, albeit from a larger one. The venture provided a remarkable lesson in hubris, a tremendous reservoir of internal strength, and first-hand source material for Mr. Stearns’ first book, Winning Smart After Losing Big (Encounter Books, Beijing University Press).
Subsequently, Mr. Stearns served as Chief Financial Officer of The Dial Corporation, Chief Financial Officer of Columbia/HCA Corporation, Chief Financial Officer of PacifiCare, Inc., President and Chief Operating Officer of Vascular Genetics, Inc., and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Quepasa Corporation (QPSA:Amex).
Mr. Stearns is a Founder of VestaPoint Capital LLC, a family of investment funds focused on real estate development. He lives in Arizona with his wife, two dogs, two cats, and a horse. He travels extensively and is intensely curious.
Connect with the author: Website
