It’s understandable if you know Bill Kurtis only as an anchorman.

That was his profession for decades, polished with that sonorous voice and often in the company of Walter Jacobson on WBBM-Ch. 2, or nationally alongside and Diane Sawyer on the CBS Morning News or, on the less serious side of things, narrating the Will Ferrell romps “Anchorman” and “Anchorman II,” or as the official judge and scorekeeper of NPR’s “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!”

What I will tell you is that if you only know Bill Kurtis for those jobs and accomplishments, you don’t know Bill Kurtis at all. But you will, because he comes at you in substance and even swashbuckling style in “Whirlwind,” his forthright and exciting autobiography that will hit bookstores in mid-September.

The title of Kurtis’ book refers not only

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