{"id":137933,"date":"2021-08-18T13:00:40","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T18:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=137933"},"modified":"2026-09-14T09:59:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T14:59:17","slug":"lifetime-learners-guide-to-reading-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/books\/lifetime-learners-guide-to-reading-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast #733: What a Man With 60,000 Books Can Teach You About Lifelong Learning and Building Your Home Library"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Gary&nbsp;<span class=\"il\">Hoover<\/span>&nbsp;<i>loves&nbsp;<\/i>books. Among the nine companies he founded was the bookstore chain Bookstop, which was acquired by Barnes &amp; Noble. He has a personal collection of 60,000 books, which he had to purchase an abandoned medical center to house. And he&#8217;s the author of his own book, which is about books, called <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2W5ojmM\"><i>The Lifetime Learner&#8217;s Guide to Reading and Learning<\/i><\/a>.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div>Today on the show, Gary shares how his fascination with books was born in his youth, why the collection he amassed over the decades is almost entirely&nbsp;non-fiction, why he prefers physical&nbsp;books over ebooks, and why getting your hands on old books can be particularly&nbsp;beneficial in enhancing your knowledge of the world. From there we turn to Gary&#8217;s method for&nbsp;digesting a book, which allows him to glean its most valuable nuggets in just thirty&nbsp;minutes, without having to read it cover to cover. We also talk about whether Gary takes notes on the books he reads, and how to incorporate more serendipity into the way you do your own reading and build your home library.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gary&nbsp;Hoover&nbsp;loves&nbsp;books. Among the nine companies he founded was the bookstore chain Bookstop, which was acquired by Barnes &amp; Noble. He has a personal collection of 60,000 books, which he had to purchase an abandoned medical center to house. And he&#8217;s the author of his own book, which is about books, called The Lifetime Learner&#8217;s Guide [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":195125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42384,42376,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-culture","category-podcast"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/733-538x280.png","medium_large":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/733-768x432.png","aom":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/733-372x230.png","reactor-320":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/733-320x180.png","reactor-640":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/733-640x360.png"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Lifetime Learner&#039;s Guide to Reading and Learning | The Art of Manliness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/books\/lifetime-learners-guide-to-reading-learning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Podcast #733: What a Man With 60,000 Books Can Teach You About Lifelong Learning and Building Your Home Library | The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gary&nbsp;Hoover&nbsp;loves&nbsp;books. Among the nine companies he founded was the bookstore chain Bookstop, which was acquired by Barnes &amp; Noble. He has a personal collection of 60,000 books, which he had to purchase an abandoned medical center to house. 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Kate McKay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/lifetime-learners-guide-to-reading-learning\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/lifetime-learners-guide-to-reading-learning\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brett &amp; Kate McKay\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3\"},\"headline\":\"Podcast #733: What a Man With 60,000 Books Can Teach You About Lifelong Learning and Building Your Home Library\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-18T18:00:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-14T14:59:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/lifetime-learners-guide-to-reading-learning\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":209,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/lifetime-learners-guide-to-reading-learning\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/733.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Books\",\"Culture\",\"Podcast\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2021\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/lifetime-learners-guide-to-reading-learning\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/lifetime-learners-guide-to-reading-learning\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Lifetime Learner's Guide to Reading and Learning | The Art of Manliness\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/lifetime-learners-guide-to-reading-learning\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/lifetime-learners-guide-to-reading-learning\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/733.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-18T18:00:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-14T14:59:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/lifetime-learners-guide-to-reading-learning\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/lifetime-learners-guide-to-reading-learning\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/lifetime-learners-guide-to-reading-learning\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/733.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/08\\\/733.png\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/books\\\/lifetime-learners-guide-to-reading-learning\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Podcast #733: What a Man With 60,000 Books Can Teach You About Lifelong Learning and Building Your Home Library\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Art of Manliness\",\"description\":\"Men&#039;s Interest and Lifestyle\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3\",\"name\":\"Brett &amp; 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