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The Lifetime Learner's Guide to Reading and Learning
Book lover Gary Hoover lives in a 33-room building, of which 32 contain his 57,000-book personal library. Few people have “consumed” or learned from and remembered as many books. In The Lifetime Learner’s Guide to Reading and Learning, Gary lays out his method for capturing important ideas contained in books in 30 minutes (or less) without speed-reading. The book contains a multitude of tips about how to learn efficiently, how to find and buy books, and an annotated list of 160 books for expanding your knowledge – from history and geography to entrepreneurship and architecture. The book concludes with an extensive section on how to think creatively and see things that others do not, and how to separate the wheat from the chaff and see the forest beyond the trees.
183 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 10, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
November 11, 2020
This is hard to review. It's a book, of course, but no book review does it justice. It needs more of a course review for something akin to Mrs. Haft's Cretaive Writing class. The good and the bad and what works and why.
The author eschews speed reading. I've done the same and have written about reading slow and intentionally. As a writer, speed reading doesn't work for me. Even for easy fiction or children's chap-books, where you think the story could be scanned, I get tripped up and have to stop, wondering why the writer used that particular turn of phrase or that punctuation.
So, speed reading is out. For xxx, though, curiosity is in. He spends several chapters on how to develop curiosity and about what questions to ask when wondering. This won't appeal to everyone, but I like that he urges you to, say, go to your pantry, close your eyes, and grab the first box, can, or bottle your hand lands on. Now? Learn all you can about it. What company makes it? How? What cultures like it? How does it make life easier or better? Or harder? (I grabbed 'Chinese Five Spice' blend from McCormick's Gourmet Spice collection. Time will tell if I buy more after learning about it...)
It's a small book that can be read in an hour or so, but it's no Saturday morning read over a cup of tea where you finish and think, "that was a nice little read." If you ascribe to anything the author opines about, reading the book will just be a start. I suspect I'll come back all the time, honing skills and asking questions.
That's really what it is: a treatise on asking questions. He writes about what questions to ask and wonders about where to find answers. And how to build a framework for remembering and using those answers.
Cheers, and enjoy.
The author eschews speed reading. I've done the same and have written about reading slow and intentionally. As a writer, speed reading doesn't work for me. Even for easy fiction or children's chap-books, where you think the story could be scanned, I get tripped up and have to stop, wondering why the writer used that particular turn of phrase or that punctuation.
So, speed reading is out. For xxx, though, curiosity is in. He spends several chapters on how to develop curiosity and about what questions to ask when wondering. This won't appeal to everyone, but I like that he urges you to, say, go to your pantry, close your eyes, and grab the first box, can, or bottle your hand lands on. Now? Learn all you can about it. What company makes it? How? What cultures like it? How does it make life easier or better? Or harder? (I grabbed 'Chinese Five Spice' blend from McCormick's Gourmet Spice collection. Time will tell if I buy more after learning about it...)
It's a small book that can be read in an hour or so, but it's no Saturday morning read over a cup of tea where you finish and think, "that was a nice little read." If you ascribe to anything the author opines about, reading the book will just be a start. I suspect I'll come back all the time, honing skills and asking questions.
That's really what it is: a treatise on asking questions. He writes about what questions to ask and wonders about where to find answers. And how to build a framework for remembering and using those answers.
Cheers, and enjoy.
July 31, 2021
You would think that a person with 57,000 books in his home would organize his book in a manner like most other books. The chapters are very short which means that each topic is not expanded on very well. Therefore, if you want depth, this is not the best book. However, since I'm a fanatic about anything that deals with learning and reading I found value in Gary Hoover's book. He has encouraged me through his writing to delve deeper into topics and books he recommends throughout his book. In fact, in one section of the book, smack in the middle to be precise, he gives you a list of 160 book recommendations with a short description for each explaining why you might go and find a copy.
I do have to admire a person who has acquired 57,000 books and still has room for it in his house. I'm sure writing a 181-page book does not do his knowledge and experience justice. So, I'll just take his advice and explore the world through both the materials I read and the experiences I have not limiting myself to only one way of thinking, but many.
I do have to admire a person who has acquired 57,000 books and still has room for it in his house. I'm sure writing a 181-page book does not do his knowledge and experience justice. So, I'll just take his advice and explore the world through both the materials I read and the experiences I have not limiting myself to only one way of thinking, but many.
September 16, 2017
Boasty and convoluted it is filled with facts but needs a talk editor to organise it so you can digest it.
Did you ever meet of those people who have a lot to say and talk for ages in an interesting manner but afterwards you fin g you did’t really hold on to anything that you didn’t know already. That is what this book is like.
It is not that the information is not in there is is that it’s hard to get out
You might like it.
Did you ever meet of those people who have a lot to say and talk for ages in an interesting manner but afterwards you fin g you did’t really hold on to anything that you didn’t know already. That is what this book is like.
It is not that the information is not in there is is that it’s hard to get out
You might like it.
July 19, 2017
A Must Read
In clear and concise terms, this book explains a simple system for absorption of the knowledge within a book easily, gives an annotated bibliography of incredible reference books and provides a tolchest of simple, effective exercises to improve your mind. I will be recommending it to EVERYONE.
In clear and concise terms, this book explains a simple system for absorption of the knowledge within a book easily, gives an annotated bibliography of incredible reference books and provides a tolchest of simple, effective exercises to improve your mind. I will be recommending it to EVERYONE.
July 18, 2019
The book is written by Gary Hoover, who owns one of biggest book store, BOOKSTOPS, in US. He has a library of more than 57000 non-fiction books. This statement attracts me to read this. However, beside getting good recommendation of important books of various genre, the author shows the way to create innovative, bias free and open mind which can view an issue from various angle.
Short read but not disappointing.
Short read but not disappointing.
May 9, 2021
Speed reader Chrome. (promo)
Best notes:
"I have come to believe that no attribute is more important to success than curiosity, though it is equaled by perseverance, self-efficacy, and passionate purposefulness."
"always look inside before buying a book, focusing on the table of contents and index to see what the book contains."
"Stop and think about what you read, about the author and where they live and what they have done, what their bias is likely to be."
"Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature can be a huge help"
"The most important pages to grasp are the table of contents. If the book is well organized, this is a list of the key ideas in the book. Stop and take time on the table of contents. Some textbooks even contain a summary table of contents followed by a more detailed table of contents, taking more time to digest but proving worthwhile. Stop and think about each chapter title – what do I think that means? Is that a subject I already know something about – or think I know something about? Am I surprised to see that concept in this book? And as I do all this, I give myself the freedom to jump into the book, a revolutionary thought for many readers."
"The book is your book, you have begun a conversation with the author, and you should feel free to interrupt, skip around, and ask questions at any time. If you give yourself this freedom, you will be amply rewarded."
"Make sure you thoroughly grasp the table of contents, make sure you have a crystal clear idea of what the author will tell you in the book"
"We all remember huge amounts of information. It is just a matter of what engages and intrigues us, and how well we connect it to everything else we know.)"
"(It has been said that intelligence is not about knowing everything, but about knowing where to find everything.)"
"We learn in five ways. 1) Study 2) Conversation 3) Observation 4) Experimentation 5) Cogitation"
"You cannot know where you are going unless you know where you are coming from."
"Efficient search is an art form, and most people are not very good at it."
"books continue to be among the best values that we can spend money on."
"Carol Dweck’s Mindset is one of the most important books one can read if you want to continually evolve, grow, and improve."
"The Million Word Crossword Dictionary (2nd Edition) http://amzn.to/2evcv4U"
"We cannot know where we are going if we don’t know where we came from."
"The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2017 http://amzn.to/2hmLMtS"
"Almanac of American Politics: 2016 http://amzn.to/2ej3kHZ"
"Inventing the Electronic Century: The Epic Story of the Consumer Electronics and Computer Industries, by Alfred D. Chandler Jr. http://amzn.to/2ewMIYc"
"My Years with General Motors, by Alfred Sloan http://amzn.to/2edSVJD"
"Atlas Of Management Thinking, by Edward De Bono http://amzn.to/2dN7Fjc"
"The more we think about our ideas, the more we bounce them off people, the stronger they become."
"The first task of the thinking person is to separate out what is meaningful from what is meaningless."
"What we remember depends on what we find interesting."
"“The master key to knowledge is to keep asking questions.”—Abelard"
"The secret of success is seeing something nobody else sees."
"But the more specialized we become, the greater our need for leaders who can help bring unity to our efforts. We need people who can think, write, and speak with clarity and conviction, people who can relate to and motivate accountants and salespeople, nurses and electrical engineers, systems analysts and social workers."
"great games take a few minutes to learn and a lifetime to master"
"Breakthrough innovations most often come from combining two ideas that everyone sees every day but no one has put together (yet)."
"Many times, the best ideas come from two sources: Looking for gaps in the present structure. Looking for intersections."
Best notes:
"I have come to believe that no attribute is more important to success than curiosity, though it is equaled by perseverance, self-efficacy, and passionate purposefulness."
"always look inside before buying a book, focusing on the table of contents and index to see what the book contains."
"Stop and think about what you read, about the author and where they live and what they have done, what their bias is likely to be."
"Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature can be a huge help"
"The most important pages to grasp are the table of contents. If the book is well organized, this is a list of the key ideas in the book. Stop and take time on the table of contents. Some textbooks even contain a summary table of contents followed by a more detailed table of contents, taking more time to digest but proving worthwhile. Stop and think about each chapter title – what do I think that means? Is that a subject I already know something about – or think I know something about? Am I surprised to see that concept in this book? And as I do all this, I give myself the freedom to jump into the book, a revolutionary thought for many readers."
"The book is your book, you have begun a conversation with the author, and you should feel free to interrupt, skip around, and ask questions at any time. If you give yourself this freedom, you will be amply rewarded."
"Make sure you thoroughly grasp the table of contents, make sure you have a crystal clear idea of what the author will tell you in the book"
"We all remember huge amounts of information. It is just a matter of what engages and intrigues us, and how well we connect it to everything else we know.)"
"(It has been said that intelligence is not about knowing everything, but about knowing where to find everything.)"
"We learn in five ways. 1) Study 2) Conversation 3) Observation 4) Experimentation 5) Cogitation"
"You cannot know where you are going unless you know where you are coming from."
"Efficient search is an art form, and most people are not very good at it."
"books continue to be among the best values that we can spend money on."
"Carol Dweck’s Mindset is one of the most important books one can read if you want to continually evolve, grow, and improve."
"The Million Word Crossword Dictionary (2nd Edition) http://amzn.to/2evcv4U"
"We cannot know where we are going if we don’t know where we came from."
"The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2017 http://amzn.to/2hmLMtS"
"Almanac of American Politics: 2016 http://amzn.to/2ej3kHZ"
"Inventing the Electronic Century: The Epic Story of the Consumer Electronics and Computer Industries, by Alfred D. Chandler Jr. http://amzn.to/2ewMIYc"
"My Years with General Motors, by Alfred Sloan http://amzn.to/2edSVJD"
"Atlas Of Management Thinking, by Edward De Bono http://amzn.to/2dN7Fjc"
"The more we think about our ideas, the more we bounce them off people, the stronger they become."
"The first task of the thinking person is to separate out what is meaningful from what is meaningless."
"What we remember depends on what we find interesting."
"“The master key to knowledge is to keep asking questions.”—Abelard"
"The secret of success is seeing something nobody else sees."
"But the more specialized we become, the greater our need for leaders who can help bring unity to our efforts. We need people who can think, write, and speak with clarity and conviction, people who can relate to and motivate accountants and salespeople, nurses and electrical engineers, systems analysts and social workers."
"great games take a few minutes to learn and a lifetime to master"
"Breakthrough innovations most often come from combining two ideas that everyone sees every day but no one has put together (yet)."
"Many times, the best ideas come from two sources: Looking for gaps in the present structure. Looking for intersections."
December 30, 2021
Hoover, a bookseller, business historian, and entrepreneur, really writes three different mini books here.
In the first book, Hoover lays out his reading methodology. He has a vast personal library of books, few of which he's read page by page. Instead, he's built up a method of "X-raying" books in 5 to 15 minutes, pulling out structure (from the table of contents, chapter headings, notes, and index) as well as key points and author positions. He's constantly interrogating the text: what is the author's point? What do I know about this subject already? What would I find surprising about this?
I typically pay insufficient attention to a book's table of contents, and seldom anticipate the author's positions, so I find this method useful. It's especially valuable as I start reading shorter works in a foreign language, where a "word-for-word" reading of each line and page isn't the goal anyway.
In Hoover's second section of this book, you'll find a vast and fascinating list of book recommendations — nearly all non-fiction, but across broad disciplines like architecture, history, culture, business, economics, and more. Turn to a bookseller and librarian to get great recommendations like these: I highlighted many, many sections for my 2022 reading list.
In the third section — and most surprising to me — is Hoover's thoughts on creativity and innovation. Seeing "what others don't see" isn't easy; and so he sets out an approach to reading, thinking, and experiencing the world, and thinking about problems and solutions in different ways. His emphasis on cross-disciplinary solutions is especially fruitful, I think. Anyone involved in innovation efforts would find this section inspiring.
In the first book, Hoover lays out his reading methodology. He has a vast personal library of books, few of which he's read page by page. Instead, he's built up a method of "X-raying" books in 5 to 15 minutes, pulling out structure (from the table of contents, chapter headings, notes, and index) as well as key points and author positions. He's constantly interrogating the text: what is the author's point? What do I know about this subject already? What would I find surprising about this?
I typically pay insufficient attention to a book's table of contents, and seldom anticipate the author's positions, so I find this method useful. It's especially valuable as I start reading shorter works in a foreign language, where a "word-for-word" reading of each line and page isn't the goal anyway.
In Hoover's second section of this book, you'll find a vast and fascinating list of book recommendations — nearly all non-fiction, but across broad disciplines like architecture, history, culture, business, economics, and more. Turn to a bookseller and librarian to get great recommendations like these: I highlighted many, many sections for my 2022 reading list.
In the third section — and most surprising to me — is Hoover's thoughts on creativity and innovation. Seeing "what others don't see" isn't easy; and so he sets out an approach to reading, thinking, and experiencing the world, and thinking about problems and solutions in different ways. His emphasis on cross-disciplinary solutions is especially fruitful, I think. Anyone involved in innovation efforts would find this section inspiring.
January 17, 2023
A quirky little book with lots of great ideas and an annotated list of 160 unusual book recommendations. Fun read!
August 23, 2022
Probably more useful for as a resource for a business person or entrepreneur. But some nuggets in here.
August 6, 2017
Great read as long as you read it quickly
Don't read it sequentially, scan it until you find a section that interests you, read the section, absorb it, plan to apply it, repeat until you get to the end.
Repeat the whole process as required.
Don't read it sequentially, scan it until you find a section that interests you, read the section, absorb it, plan to apply it, repeat until you get to the end.
Repeat the whole process as required.
August 13, 2017
The title says it all
I don't know about other people but I tend to listen to a person that has built two wildly successful businesses & has a library of over 50,000 books.
I don't know about other people but I tend to listen to a person that has built two wildly successful businesses & has a library of over 50,000 books.
January 11, 2018
Great list of other books to read
A great resource of good books to read. The end was a tad redundant, but overall a good evening read.
A great resource of good books to read. The end was a tad redundant, but overall a good evening read.
September 13, 2019
Good in parts. Most of the things the author says are already well known. A book about learning has to go deeper rather than just brush through many topics. And should be less self-promoting.
February 17, 2021
This book wasn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be about, but there was still some good useful tips. The author has over 57,000 books in his home library. He is the creator of a successful superstore, called BOOKSTOP. He studied and combined trends from other businesses, and in this book he gives you tips along the way on how to get your thinking cap on and step out of the rut of thinking like everyone else. If you own your own business, you will probably find some of these tips and ideas very helpful in opening up your creative mind to new ideas.
Otherwise, he starts off by explaining how to briefly look over a book from cover to cover within 25-30 minutes and getting everything you need from it without reading the entire book. Browse the...insider cover, editing page, the table of contents page, bibliography, index, biography page (back cover), illustrations and photographs, and to read first few and last pages of book...much like we were taught in choosing books in high school when writing our research papers. This might be good IF I am researching, but this isn’t in my personality not to read an entire book. This process for every book would drive me crazy. And, anyway, I bet he will absolutely appreciate the fact that I did read HIS entire book!
Otherwise, he starts off by explaining how to briefly look over a book from cover to cover within 25-30 minutes and getting everything you need from it without reading the entire book. Browse the...insider cover, editing page, the table of contents page, bibliography, index, biography page (back cover), illustrations and photographs, and to read first few and last pages of book...much like we were taught in choosing books in high school when writing our research papers. This might be good IF I am researching, but this isn’t in my personality not to read an entire book. This process for every book would drive me crazy. And, anyway, I bet he will absolutely appreciate the fact that I did read HIS entire book!
August 27, 2020
This book had a few bits of information that I found useful. But I had to sift through pages of prattle about the author and his success to obtain it. The author seemed very ostentatious and full of himself. According to him he thought of the need for many services before certain companies were started to fill that need. If he had all these good ideas before everyone else, why isn't he the owner of companies like Walmart and Uber? This book is less about how to learn and more about how to come up with an idea for a company and how successful the author is.
July 26, 2021
Meandering through creative thought
I had no impetus for downloading this book I ther than a recommendation from a friend. Having devoured it in short order, I’m convinced I should’ve bought the paper version as the author suggests for all books.
Though the book itself isn’t that long, I think it should’ve been a long journal article or a series of 8-10 blog posts. Though less profitable so, they’d impart the knowledge quickly and for easy reference. I certainly will go back through and document the lessons learned for future recall
I had no impetus for downloading this book I ther than a recommendation from a friend. Having devoured it in short order, I’m convinced I should’ve bought the paper version as the author suggests for all books.
Though the book itself isn’t that long, I think it should’ve been a long journal article or a series of 8-10 blog posts. Though less profitable so, they’d impart the knowledge quickly and for easy reference. I certainly will go back through and document the lessons learned for future recall
December 30, 2022
This was like two different books! The first 90 pages are about the strategies for reading and integrating knowledge from nonfiction books in 30 minutes (and lots of pages of book suggestions - for long weighty tomes on many topics). This section was not for me. The second 90 pages offered a transformative way of thinking about knowledge - and surprised me. I didn’t know the point of this book was to think about how to set yourself up to have the NEXT GREAT IDEA. I am compelled enough to want to buy this book physically and reread the second half with a notebook in hand.
October 4, 2021
This was one that sounded right up my alley. A Texas who has a library of 57,000 books. While the central idea was good (and he gave some great advice on how to read a non-fiction book) and the lists of books were good, much of the other information could have been organized more effectively. This is one to recommend to your dedicated reader friends, but not many others will find it useful.
May 18, 2019
Very digestible
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I downloaded this book. It has made learning a much simpler adventure. I’m less afraid to look into new topics because of this book.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I downloaded this book. It has made learning a much simpler adventure. I’m less afraid to look into new topics because of this book.
Want to read
August 28, 2021The author’s websites
https://americanbusinesshistory.org/
https://hooversworld.com/
I am interested in this book because of AOM podcast of Aug 18, 2021 “What a Man With 60,000 Books Can Teach You About Lifelong Learning and Building Your Home Library”
https://americanbusinesshistory.org/
https://hooversworld.com/
I am interested in this book because of AOM podcast of Aug 18, 2021 “What a Man With 60,000 Books Can Teach You About Lifelong Learning and Building Your Home Library”
October 23, 2021
The biggest thing I got out of it is a new way of thinking about the world and putting concepts together in new ways to reveal gaps and intersections.
But I wasn't impressed with his writing style or lack of depth.
But I wasn't impressed with his writing style or lack of depth.
October 7, 2021
Very good book. Not helpful for reading fiction, but for getting through non-fiction books, this one is awesome. A good read.
Read
December 20, 2021 一生的读书计划
7.6 (23人评价) [美]克里夫顿·费迪曼 (Clifton Fadiman) / 马骏娥 / 译林出版社 / 2018
这是一本别开生面的、有趣而又有价值的工具书。对于所有寻求世界文学宝库指南的人来说，《一生的读书计划》都是最好的选择，它提供了人类精神最伟大成就的入门之路。
7.6 (23人评价) [美]克里夫顿·费迪曼 (Clifton Fadiman) / 马骏娥 / 译林出版社 / 2018
这是一本别开生面的、有趣而又有价值的工具书。对于所有寻求世界文学宝库指南的人来说，《一生的读书计划》都是最好的选择，它提供了人类精神最伟大成就的入门之路。
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 20, 2022
Just not information dense enough, although business types might get more out of this. His list of 160 books that are good to read is a good resource though
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews