Revealed: the 80 books that started a whole new chapter

THERE are good books, great books and favourite books, from prize winners to compulsive but trashy reads. Then there are books that change your life.

A new collection that records the novels, factual books and even the piano courses and golf instructional booklets that transformed the existence of 80 Scots will be published next week.

The Book That Changed My Life contains entries by celebrities, writers and everyday readers, who name the books that influenced them in the most profound ways and explain why.

The choices, selected by the Scottish Book Trust and published by Luath Press, were taken from more than 1,000 entries solicited through libraries and the internet.

The choices run from novels penned by Jane Austen, JRR Tolkien and James Joyce to Asterix In Switzerland and 101 Essential Golf Tips.

There is even an anthology of Superman stories, picked by Simon Fraser, the Scot who is now New York-based comic artist for the likes of Marvel and 2000 AD magazine.

In our panel are a few of the book choices featured.

Olivier Joly, spokesman for the Scottish Book Trust, said: "The books people choose are often children's books, the first book they ever read, or the first adult book they read. They change lives in so many different ways. The majority of people are Scottish, and it does say a lot about the Scottish psyche, how people grew up, because their reaction to books is very often based on growing up in Scotland, and on their environment."