Mortimer Adler is kind of fascinating figure in popular culture of the past. The closest kind of parallel I can think of now to him would almost maybe be someone like Maria Popova but that's not entirely a great comparison either. He really did believe all the world's knowledge was contained in the written words of the past & present. He wanted to celebrate it, he wanted people to read them and talk about it but he also wanted to compartmentalize and package it and "sell" it too (Great Books & Encyclopedia collections) Not necessarily a bad thing really. Interestingly the 1972 revised edition of this which is the much expanded one was worked on by Charles Van Doren, the guy who cheated at the TV Quiz show in the 1950s. (The republication of the book was in part a professional/reputational reboot for him w Adler's help)
School killed my interest in reading, specifically, lazy teachers that used test bank questions. Who wants to read for pleasure when there is constant pressure to retain every minute detail in case it's on the test? It's been 10 years and I'm still learning how to read like a normal person again.
I had a similar experience coming out of a literature degree. After a break I ended up reading “trash” novels for a while to get back in to things. It didn’t fully work as now all I can seem to read is non-fiction.
What part of geography you have been taught?
I don't think this is about reading for pleasure. This guide is about how to read non-fiction efficiently.
Somebody wrote a rather snarky book about the whole Great Books program a few years ago. I gave my copy away after reading it, though, and Googling for "great books book" gets one nowhere.