Well, Alan Kay isn't a young guy. Presumably, he's been reading for many years. Knock out a couple a year and you should be good to go.
On the flip side, remember this any time you read someone else's "recommended reading list"... if YOU sat down and wrote your "recommended reading list" it would probably also be very long and impressive as well.. it would just (probably) have a lot of different titles on it.
He learnt to read when he was an infant..
I remember clearly in a conference he said: "... by the time I got to school I have read a couple of hundred books ..."
On the flip side, remember this any time you read someone else's "recommended reading list"... if YOU sat down and wrote your "recommended reading list" it would probably also be very long and impressive as well.. it would just (probably) have a lot of different titles on it.