Can a book really change a life? This episode tests that hope from four angles
This preview is based only on the published show notes for This American Life episode 137. It explores several ways books can shape people and families—from a childhood discovery of Moss Hart’s Act One to a family chain reaction, a man changed by unread books, and a visit to Laura Ingalls Wilder country.
## A show-notes preview If you’re drawn to stories about reading, influence, and the strange power people give books, this episode looks especially promising. Based on the notes alone, **Episode 137: "The Book That Changed Your Life"** approaches that idea from multiple directions: inspiration, misreading, family fallout, and the gap between literary imagination and real life. The throughline begins with **Alexa Junge**, who as a child explored her playwright grandfather’s library and found **Moss Hart’s autobiography, *Act One***. The notes suggest a deeply personal story about mentorship across time—through marginal notes, theater history, and a book that offered a model for how to live and work. That thread continues as she follows Hart’s path and then has her image of him challenged after meeting his widow. From there, the episode seems to widen its lens. **David Sedaris** contributes a story about a “dirty book in the woods” that affects his family, apparently in ways that are memorable but not exactly uplifting. Another segment, reported by **Jeremy Goldstein**, centers on a man whose life was changed by many books he never actually read—a premise that hints at identity, aspiration, or the symbolic role books can play. The final act takes **Meghan Daum** to **De Smet, South Dakota**, where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived and set much of the *Little House* series. According to the notes, the surprise is not disillusionment but recognition: the place and its people seem to reflect the values Daum associated with Wilder’s books. If you like literary episodes that treat books as lived experience rather than just objects, this one looks like a strong pick.
About this episode
<p>We want to believe our lives can be changed by the ideas contained in a book. </p><p>Visit <a href="https://thisamericanlife.supercast.com?utm_id=lifepartners&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=shownotes">thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners</a> to sign up for our premium subscription.</p><ul><li>Prologue: When Alexa was seven, she started going through her grandfather's books. Her grandfather was a playwright and teacher, and through the books—and especially through his notes in the margins—she entered the world of 1930's American theater. And she found a book that changed her life: writer Moss Hart's autobiography Act One. (5 minutes)</li><li>Act One: More of Alexa Junge and how Moss Hart's autobiography changed her life. She followed his path, learned specific lessons, and had a vision of him that was absolutely clear—until she met his widow. (10 minutes)</li><li>Act Two: A book that changed a family's life—temporarily, and not for the better. David Sedaris on what happened when he found a dirty book in the woods and passed it along to his sisters. (9 minutes)</li><li>Act Three: Reporter Jeremy Goldstein tells the story of a man who had many books change his life, even though he'd never read them. (14 minutes)</li><li>Act Four: Writer Meghan Daum travels to De Smet, South Dakota—where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived and set most of her Little House books. What surprises her is how much it matches what she'd imagined. The people there seem to be genuinely living by the values Laura wrote about. (15 minutes)</li></ul><p>Transcripts are available at <a href="https://www.thisamericanlife.org/137/transcript">thisamericanlife.org</a></p><p><a href='https://www.thisamericanlife.org/page/privacy-policy'>This American Life privacy policy.</a><br /><a href='https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices'>Learn more about sponsor message choices.</a></p>