Part of BBC Radio 3's 'The Essay' strand, The Book That Changed Me features writers, academics and other eminent professionals discussing the literary works that have had the greatest impact on their lives.

This fascinating selection contains some of the best episodes from the series, including legendary songwriter Steve Earle on Truman Capote's masterpiece In Cold Blood; academic Monica Siddiqui on Austen's Pride and Prejudice; and Tony Blair's onetime strategist Alastair Campbell on Flaubert's seminal Madame Bovary.

Renowned film director Richard Eyre reveals how Angus Calder's social history The People's War evokes memories of his childhood; neurobiologist Colin Blakemore explains why he loves Darwin's lesser-known work, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals; visual artist Tacita Dean describes how Marguerite Yourcenair's Fires helped her find her voice as a writer, feminist and filmmaker; and David Simon, creator of TV's The Wire, relates how James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men made him realise the importance of reportage.

Absorbing and enlightening, this entertaining collection sheds new light on the intellectual lives of a host of famous names, and celebrates the transformative power of literature.

Production credits

Produced by Smita Patel

First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on the following dates:

Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell 14 March 2011

With Alan Johnston

The Wrench by Primo Levi 15 March 2011

With Edmund de Waal

The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin 17 March 2011

With Colin Blakemore

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 18 March 2011

With Mona Siddiqui

Othello by William Shakespeare 25 October 2011

With Musa Okwonga

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 20 January 2014

With Alan Johnson

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote 19 January 2015

With Steve Earle

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott 20 January 2015

With Jude Kelly

What a Carve-Up! by Jonathan Coe 21 January 2015

With Jon Ronson

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 22 January 2015

With Lolita Chakrabarti

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee 31 October 2016

With David Simon

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 1 November 2016

With Pauline Black

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley and Malcolm X 2 November 2016

With Ben Anderson

Fires by Marguerite Yourcenair 3 November 2016

With Tacita Dean

The People's War by Sir Richard Eyre 4 November 2016

With Angus Calder

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys 2 April 2018

With Afua Hirsch

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy 3 April 2018

With Henry Marsh

The Arabian Nights translated by Richard Francis Burton 4 April 2018

With Zarah Hussain

Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert 5 April 2018

With Alastair Campbell

Pyramids by Terry Pratchett 6 April 2018

With Inua Ellams