"Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Questionnaires are everywhere: we fill them out in doctor's offices and at job interviews, to express ourselves and to advance knowledge, to find love and to kill time. But where did they come from, and why have they proliferated? In Questionnaire, Evan Kindley investigates the history of "the form as form," from the Victorian confession album to the BuzzFeed quiz. In the process, he uncovers surprising connections between disparate fields (literature and science, psychology and business, and journalism and surveillance), and while asking questions about the questions we ask ourselves. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic"-- Provided by publisher.

"A history of the questionnaire from its inception in the late 19th century to its current online renaissance, surveying a wide range of fields and forms in order to ask questions about the questions we ask ourselves"-- Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 129-139) and index.

Introduction: The Form as Form -- 1. Private Publicity -- 2. Testing, testing -- 3. Your opinion of you -- 4. The art of asking -- 5. Pandora's checklist -- 6. Dating and data -- 7. Quiz mania.

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