It matters a lot how this handsomely produced, notably well-edited book is ingested. I don’t recommend reading it straight through. That will make it seem long and repetitive, with Stern frequently hitting on his favorite themes — which is to say, the ones that have the most to do with him. He likes asking about masturbation, money, making it big and psychotherapy, all of which demonstrate more narcissism than curiosity. It’s much better to pick the book up and choose interview subjects at random. And don’t do it on the basis of your pre-existing interest in the person. Vincent Gallo, one of the most loathed people in filmmaking, gives one of the best interviews here.

The real standouts are people who are thrown off guard by the fact that Stern has found out so much about them. As he says in the introduction, doing your homework is essential to winning people over — and to pushing them toward places where they wouldn’t otherwise go. One case in point is Gwyneth Paltrow, whose section of the book is almost certain to change your impression of her, no matter what it was in the first place. Interviewing her in 2015, Stern gets her going by knowing which roles she turned down (“Titanic”?) and playing to her seldom-seen sense of humor, which turns out to be as good as his. He also brings her back to the days when she was nobody, Brad Pitt was a huge catch and their falling in love on the set of “Seven” changed her status. As ancient history, it’s adorable.

Paltrow’s helpful hint on how to quiet an obstreperous husband will be one of the book’s big takeaways, even though these radio interviews aren’t technically news. But the noisy parts aren’t what matter. It’s the intimacy Stern establishes with his subjects that makes this collection worthwhile, as when Jon Stewart opens up about the father who abandoned his family. The stories Stern elicits are astonishing. When Stewart was 17, seven years after the split, the two met for a monthly visit and Stewart’s father asked, “What do you think about if I got remarried?” When teenage Jon said he wouldn’t object, his father replied: “Um, I got married and I have a 2-year-old.”

Stern is no stranger to thin ice. On multiple occasions here, he asks a white person whether he or she would have sex with a black person. It’s unfortunate if authentic that these queries remained in the book’s otherwise slimmed-down transcripts. And even for his most ardent fans, his ways of talking about girls and hotness may no longer be part of his charm. (In the Trump interviews, he constantly wanted to know whether the future first lady was naked. Trump was willing to answer, but he was also notably protective of her from the start.)

Stern has said that his 2015 Conan O’Brien interview is his favorite. Maybe that’s because it describes O’Brien’s crushing disappointment at not landing the “Tonight Show” hosting job and his reasons for staying at NBC anyway — but the choice says more about interviewer than interviewee. Look for standouts with Ozzy Osbourne, Joan Rivers, Courtney Love, Gallo, Michael J. Fox and Lady Gaga, for starters. And look for the one that isn’t here. The book includes a brief chapter on Hillary Clinton, who was wooed by Stern but was, he says, too afraid to face his questioning. Had she done so and revealed a softer, more likable side, she might have won the election. Or at least that is what Howard Stern thinks about “The Howard Stern Show.”