Every map you’ve ever used was drawn by someone who had to choose what to leave out.

Every map is a set of decisions about what matters: which roads are worth drawing, whose borders count, what stays blank. Those choices are invisible because the result looks like a neutral picture of the world, which is exactly what makes them powerful. Somebody chose, and the choosing is part of the information.

Look at a map you use often and ask what is missing from it. Compare two maps of the same place made for different purposes. The same question works on summaries, charts and anything else that claims to simply show you how things are.