Ask a Foolish Question

The premise is irresistible: an omnipotent entity called the Answerer sits on a distant planet, ready to resolve every mystery the universe holds. But there's a catch, and this is pure Sheckley: it can only answer questions that are properly understood by the asker. Morran and Lingman venture across the cosmos seeking ultimate truths about existence and mortality, only to find their queries too simplistic, too poorly formed, to elicit anything but disappointing responses. It's a witty, unsettling examination of how we convince ourselves we desire answers when we lack the capacity to comprehend them. Written in 1953, it reads like prophecy for the Google age, where having information at our fingertips gets mistaken for genuine understanding. For anyone who's ever wondered about life's meaning and expected a clear answer.