I suppose you want an explanation.

A group of friends I had suggested them and the stories were good enough for a 15-year-old boy that it lead him to do other things with those friends that he might not have otherwise, such as playing RPGs, going to SF/F conventions, and making SF/F the first section he goes to in a bookstore.

That led to buying The Eye of the World, which led to looking for information about the series on the internet, which led serendipitiously to wotmania, which lead to going to Michigan in 2004 to meet a bunch of practical strangers, and all the way to me writing this paragraph.

The Brooks' books changed my life in that they introduced me to a specific leisure activity that that I still do 20 plus years later. It's not profound, but it's a change that's had a relatively large effect and I don't think would have happened if I hadn't read that series.