Meghan Daum

Even today, she recalls where specific ahs were penciled into her grandfather's copy.

Yeah.

So... These are my people.

You don't meet many people who tell you that a book changed their lives.

The idea of that is appealing, I think, because it's nice to think that our lives could be changed by the vision of the world that happens between the pages of a book instead of what our lives are usually changed by.

You know, dumb luck, tragedies, coincidences.

Today on our radio program, we have stories of people whose lives were changed by books, really changed.

From WBEZ Chicago, this is American Life.

I'm Ira Glass.

Our program today in four acts.

Act one is called, well, Act One, where somebody gets clues about how to live their life from notes scribbled by their dead grandfather in the margins of a book.

Act two, the family that reads together.

In that act, the story of how when David Sedaris was a boy, he stumbled upon a dirty book in the woods.

He made his sisters view all adults with newfound suspicion and sent him to the dictionary.

Act three, Roger and Me and Lewis and Clark.

The story of a construction worker.

And this question, can your life be changed by a book that you have never seen and have not read?

Act four, Little Sod Houses for You and Me.

This one is the old, old story of my friend.

New York girl leaves the big city, heads out to a small town on the prairie with a dream and a bonnet.