Richard Saul Wurman calls himself an "information architect"; he organizes information into clear patterns. He has been on a phenomenal creative ride for years after creating and self-publishing the Access Guides to cities along with a new United States atlas. In 1984, he created the TED Conference bringing together America's finest thinkers in the fields of technology, entertainment, and design. Then Wurman hit the jackpot with Information Anxiety, a 1989 bestseller which put on display his out-of-the -box ideas about information, understanding, design, and culture.

This book contains 33 lessons from two fables built around the efforts of a Commission asked to fix a city in an imaginary land. Forget about this crazy construct and focus on Wurman's continuing efforts to make sense out of education, learning, design, the work environment, technology, and productivity.

Now let's get down to brass tacks:

• "There is not an overload of information. There is an overload of non-information. If information doesn't inform, it's not information — it's data."
— Richard Saul Wurman

• "I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious."
— Albert Einstein

• "The one real object of education is to have a man in the condition of continually asking questions."
— Bishop Mandell Creighton

• "I believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see."
— Duane Michals

In Wurman's world, learning is connected with what you are interested in and that leads to many Eureka moments! In Wurman's world, saying "I do not know' is the essence of honesty and wise living. In Wurman's world, people don't let schooling stifle their experiences of learning.

Next up in Wurman's world is what he calls a conference to end all conferences — a game changer. A cities project involving a new way to map the urban areas whose populations will soon top 21 million. There will be an accompanying documentary and the construction of worldwide urban observatories.

Finally, And here are a few tactics I have put to good use over the years:

• "The best way to have a good idea is to have many ideas."
— Linus Pauling

• "Too often failing is feared, not revered."
— Richard Saul Wurman

• "Beginnings, beginnings, beginnings, I love beginnings."
— Louis Kahn

And so, we are ready to begin another day, the understanding way!