Is anyone else's special interest collecting information?

I thought my special interest was collecting books, but when I look at other book collector's I don't really care that much about special editions or particular authors. I don't even read as much fiction as I used to when I was younger.

I do love books but I've realise that my pattern is really evaluating whether a book will fill an information gap in my collection currently collection, if I think the book will become culturally relevant at some point, will someone I know need this ever, or if the book is particularly rare.

Besides that, I cant readily think of anything I intensely focus on for pleasure. I tend to enjoy information gathering about a topic, rather than than the topic itself, if that makes sense?

The one thing that has remained consistent is collecting information on topics that interest me, seeking out reviews, study guides, recommendations, etc. I'll have a thought, or a question, and then I have to collect as many resources as I can about the thing. The more niche the interest, with fewer resources, the more intense the search. I started gardening this year and wanted to grow wasabi... Queue me hunting for weeks for videos and books on the topic; online, in book stores, charity shops on the weekend, libraries... I just need to find it and store the information so that it's there, and organised for when it's needed.

Whatever the topic that catches my eye, I need 10+ books on the topic and a playlist of videos.

Current topics I've collected are: Sourdough, east Asian cooking, Mushrooms, burnout, heart health, alcohol and sobriety, video game production, Yoga, personal finance, etiquette and others that escape my memory.

Anyone else just like to collect information about things to organise and store?