The books he mentions 1) The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis 2) Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock 3) Swamp Thing by Alan Moore

When I was 16 I borrowed the Fellowship of the Ring off my English teacher. English being my second language, I could hardly understand a word of it but my passion for fantasy was strong. I persevered, went on to study English at uni and setttled in the UK where I now teach English literature to native speakers. Never give up!

I love this guy. His love of fantasy, the power of the imagination and basic, good storytelling is infectious.

Your dreams are too important to be scared away by your nightmares.

I'm a simple man: I see Neil Gaiman talking about writing, I click "like". One of the most awesome authors alive, for sure.

It’s nice that he gave Ursula Le Guin a mention. She easily belongs in the top three.

Such a nice man! I rang him up at an airport bookstore I was working at... I had been saving up for a collector’s edition of The Sandman and was basically working my way through all of his books. So I got totally star struck and was too zapped to ask for an autograph! 🤩🤪🌪😓 He smiled nicely and when I was too short-circuited to take his money he just sat it on the counter and told me “Keep the change.” 🤣🤣🤣 I will never forget it!

Best storyteller of this generation. One major reason being that he actually has so much story to tell and doesn't pad his books with useless prose

I can honestly say that "One Fish Two Fish" changed my life. I know it sounds stupid but I am dyslexic and have a learning disability and despite being sent to special ed and my mom taking me to experts I just didn't pick up reading. When I was 8, my mom read it to me every single day for 6 months and that repetition just made something in my brain CLICK. I went from being unable to read to reading at a college level in about 3-4 years. After that I might say C.J. Cherryh's Cyteen series or her foreigner series. Her books are easy and fun to read but they present ideas that I never ran into any other place. The ideas were always subtle but important to the story. It trained my brain to look at things in different ways. I don't know if I could pick a third book. There are so many other options.

In 1971, when I was in the fourth grade a teacher gave me a copy of Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities. That book is forever cemented in my psyche and it turned me into a bibliophile.

He is an amazing writer. The ocean at the end of the lane. The graveyard book. Coraline. Neverwhere. Stardust. Good omens. Odd & the frost gaints. All great books. He is such a diverse writer. Not many people can write different genres so well.

A friend and I once spent several hours discussing the parallels and contrasts between the Graveyard Book and the Jungle Books (mostly Kipling but Disney was brought up). We filled a couple of white boards with notes and diagrams. Then we introduced Lindskold's Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls book to the discussion and several more hours were spent. We wasted an entire day on it and it was glorious.

Neil is one of my favorite writers. And I absolutely love his voice.

This person was not designed to be anything but a writer. Amazing to witness

I’m almost finished with Neverwhere I can’t believe it took me so long to find this amazing writer! For people that don’t like to read try audiobooks because it’s a tragedy to not love books!

The Narnia books did a similar thing to me as well. I remebered it as the film 'The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe' but then when I had bought the whole series, I realised 'The Magician's nephew' was the first in the series. That book in particular did something to me. There's something so magical and special but at the same time it's a bit eerie. It did scare me back then but it's one of those books you just can't forget.

I am with him on the Narnia thing. I bought the set as a young adult, having recalled a TV show in my childhood years. It was not what got me started on reading for personal pleasure, but it was great, even as a young adult. James Herriot - that's who got me into reading for the sake of enjoying a book.

his voice is like floating on cool waves on the ocean while listening to some sad violin music....

Stormbringer... As a teenager I loved the Elric books.

Thank you, Neil Gaiman, & thank you, Bloomsbury Publishing, for posting or uploading onto the net this short film. I look forward to conveying to you my upcoming manuscript on a folk hero character who struggles to overcome incredibly harsh & sustained hardships & catastrophe to become... Well, we'll see, I pray. More to be revealed; may this be so.

Watchmen did for me what Swamp Thing did for him. It was unreal while grounded in reality and the topics and exploration of such huge ideas were done so well that I remember thinking about it still to this day. Isolation, futility, fate, love, and the human experience. All there. All wrapped up in a naked blue god. Brilliant and transcendent.

Reading his books made grim days seem cheerful. I consider myself privileged to be son of parents who looked for books to entertain me.

Sandman got me through a tough time in my life. Also made me fall in love with comics all over again.

Wow! The CS Lewis set was my 7th birthday present too! And I own all the three books he mentions. No wonder I relate to Neil's work so much.

_The Sandman_ isn't just a piece of literature but actually a transcending experience. Don't know how Gaiman came up with the idea, I'm just glad he did.

I think I, too, became a writer - or started becoming one - when I realized that someone had _written_ the book I was reading, that someone was MAKING me have the experience it was having. That was a big deal for me.

Certain sections of 'Watership Down' still make me anxious despite the fact that I read it every couple of years for the last three decades.

The greatest gift I've ever received was a library card at age seven. And a teacher who, when I started public school, at seven, realised my reading needs and compromised to not make me feel more "other", and awkward than I already did.

I hear his voice as Morpheus everytime I read Sandman

He looks like young Alan Rickman

The outsiders always been a classic legendary book to me, and it's always been there for people in highschool

I love that he cited Alan Moore. Awesome.

And now Moore is a fan of gaiman. Nice to see that reciprocal creativity

The Sandman definitely changed my life, and Elric too

When he named Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock I think I actually swooned... LOL!

I was watching another one of your videos and thought about purchasing "The Chronicles of Narnia." Thanks for the videos.

born to write

Elric of Melniboné: I discovered this series by Michael Moorcock when I was 15, then I read every book in that series. Then I read them again and again.

Dr. Seuss/The Far side when little. The Phantom Tollbooth and Watership Down taught me that any music was possible, even the kind I made up. Stumbling into Ursula LeGuin and Neil Gaiman as an adult with a child taught me that books could still be as impactful and life-changing even when you’re grown up and somewhat practical on a daily basis. Thank you 🙌

I love this video because it reminds me that you *can* find what you love and that you *can* build a life around that thing.

The Chronicles of Narnia did the same thing for me, but I didn't know they existed until i was ten. My teacher had a rotating bookrack in our classroom full of books for kids to borrow and i read every single one of the books on it, starting with the Chronicles of Narnia. And i still love to read and write, 30 years later.

Neil Gaiman's "One Life Furnished In Early Moorcock" is one of the best Elric stories ever written

just finished swamp thing and my head exploded. I can't say enough how good it is. Brilliant!

i loved the lion the which and the wardrobe, as a kid before that The Magic Faraway Tree and all those Enid Blyton books....these books put me on a psychedelic path before i had encountered psychedelics

He is amazing! He is born to write.

My picks: 1. a wizard of earthsea by Ursula le guin 2. Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke 3. The silmarillion by Tolkien.

Silly school boy ideas ended up being my favorite works that I still go through, read, and edit. I loved the way I wrote back then

I've never read Alan Moore's swamp thing issues but it's only seemed like that would be one of the last titles I would associate with his style of work. I'm going to have to read them one day.

You had me at "Alan Moore's Saga of the Swamp Thing". Actually you had me at "The Lion the With and the Wardrobe" but you don't stop when you're ahead, Neil!

Neil I concur with your sentiment. Books were my best friend whilst I was a child. Even now having grown up I will often lie on our sofa in the winter with a roaring fire reading for hours, until it is dark outdoors. Or in our hammock in the summer. My idea of heaven my darling Husband will lie next to me perfectly quiet just to hear me read aloud. For my friends on one day near their birthday I spend the afternoon reading their childhood books aloud to them. I did this when we were Uni when we were stony broke, and it still gives me pure joy.

Huh. I've always loved those Swamp Thing issues and regarded it as the best thing Alan Moore wrote, but I never knew that it was what got Gaiman into comics writing. Excellent.

Ive recently started to collect alan moore swamp thing and they are amazing. Im only 14 issues from a complete set. Of course 2 of those issues (21 and 37) are worth a total of at least 500 american, but the whole run is amazing

An inspiring book list from Professor Snape.

is it just me or does he seem on the verge of tears the whole time?

Our tastes were very similar at those ages. No wonder I love Gaiman's work.

Narnia was the first foreign (English in specific) movie I ever watched. Being an 4 year old Indian, it was hard to understand what it really meant but I loved it, it was like a Big Band in my mind and opened up a whole new universe to me. Then 3 years later, I watched and read something that solidified and shaped the matter generated by that Big Bang, I saw Lord of the Rings. And I think that if not for LOTR I would have never read or took interest in comics like Sandman, Miracleman or All Star Superman, which I love with the very depth of my heart and soul.

Thank you. This is inspiring..

The Graveyard Book and Neverwhere are my two Gaiman favourites. i read The Narnia series in my teens , Moorcock in my 20s( really good) and have only just got into graphic novels. so always a decade or two behingd the eightball

I looooooooooove "the graveyard book" it is such an amazing book!!! Its like tim burton's "Corps Bride " its soooo dark and all the characters that one meets.. Truly a classic

In center school we read the graveyard book and coraline and the reading that you do is great

I KNEW he was going to mention Michael Moorcock. Love to know what Gaiman thinks of the Out of the Silent Planet trilogy, also by CS Lewis. Long overdue for a screen adaptation imo.

Nice to have a positive book influence like that. Even Fantasy is a mirror of the "Real" world.

Wow, it seemed he was gonna cry when he started to talk about the Swamp Thing

Mr. Gaiman is a Narnia-fan! Awesome!

Wow. Voyage of the dawn treader was always my fav CS Lewis book. Stormbringern... man. Wow. Just wow.

I spent my childhood reading Narnia as well then as I grew older I read Neil Gaiman’s comics That have touched me and made who I am today

I could listen to NG talk about books and writing for eternity.

Wonderful talk.

I love how three books quickly turn into hundreds.

I am eagerly awaiting The Graveyard Book to be developed into a movie. But only if Neil is involved because it is such a wonderful book, that it can easily be mishandled as a movie.

Wow. Neil Gaiman and I have something in common. We both read and were impressed by Michael Moorcock's Stormbringer when we were young.

Wow. I read the Chronicles of Narnia, at around age 9-10, and also read "Stormbringer" very soon after. Loved the darkness of Moorcock. (I don't know where the copy of Stormbringer came from, but I still have it.) Then, on a family trip, I randomly bought a copy of Stephen R. Donaldson's "Lord Foul's Bane". I read and re-read the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant many times. And so, I was off to the races with dark stories and deeply flawed heroes. It's shaped my world view ever since.

I never read C.S. Lewis, but I've spent a lot of time reading and re-reading Michael Moorcock's books. The first Elric story was published in 1962, unless I'm mistaken. Dancers at the End of Time is really good, too. Dr. Seuss was really important, from my point of view.

I think, for me, the three books that influenced me the most were: "The Silmarillion" by J.R.R. Tolkien, "Dragonsong" by Anne McCaffrey, and "The Bourne Identity" by Robert Ludlum. If I could add some more, I would at least add (not in any particular order): "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte, "The Matarese Circle" by Robert Ludlum, "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien, "Anne of Green Gables" by Lucy Maud Montgomery, "Dragonsinger", "Dragonflight", and "The White Dragon" by Anne McCaffrey, "The Birthgrave", "Don't Bite the Sun", and "Drinking Sapphire Wine" by Tanith Lee, the Diadem saga by Jo Clayton, "Sharra's Exile" by Marion Zimmer Bradley, "R is for Rocket" and "S is for Space" by Ray Bradbury, the robot stories and the first three Foundation novels by Isaac Asimov, "Lord Valentine's Castle" by Robert Silverberg, the Elric series by Michael Moorcock, the Xanth books and the first three Phaze books by Piers Anthony, most of the short stories and books by Robert Heinlein, and the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis. And that's still just scratching the surface.

Gaiman and I had almost the same reading list. Love CS Lewis and the great Michael Moorcock!!

The author of a book that changed my life (Good Omens), talking about the books that changed his life. Nice.

Cool that the Elric books were an early influence on Gaiman. Didn't really expect that, figured he'd lean more into Poe or Lovecraft.

Neil is as good a public speaker, as he is an author. His slow paced way to speak is relaxing.

Sandman Good Omens Never where ... Brilliance

This video started and my mind thought it was the beggining of an audiobook

Neil gets it. Especially his comments on swamp thing

the 3 books that changed my life, Kurt Vonnegut Sirens of Titan, ( At age10) Tolkien's The Hobbit ( Age 12), and Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey ,(Age 35)

You were a bloody advanced reader to read those at 7. No wonder ur such a great writer.

I just finished reading Volume 1 of the Sandman. While I read the comic, I simultaneously listened to the Audible version. That’s a great way to do it. I never heard of the Sandman, but noticed over 10,000 outstanding reviews on Audible. I bought the Audible and downloaded the book. I read the book, if read is the proper term, on a large Kindle Fire, taking full advantage of the color illustrations, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Very thought provoking. My favorite scene, the battle in Hell, which ended with the phrase, “ I give them hope.” I just downloaded volume 2 and 3, all three of which are on the Audible. That said, I’m 75 years old, with Hellraiser being the only movies of this genre, that I liked. Not a walking dead fan.

The truth about reading is that it is the only possibility ever to talk/listen to people more intelligent than oneself constantly on demand. Because friends tend to be on the same level. When we are lucky we have different interests, talents and can communicate them. The only difficulty concerning books is of course to find the right ones. A higher level but still understandable. Classical novels have the advantage that they offer something for every age. Their contents change with the maturing of the reader.

Nice video I love Gaiman's Sandman

No criticism but .... oh how I hate it when people say they "I was given a copy of .... whatever ... Swallows and Amazons, The Wind in the Willows, War and Peace, 'A la recherche du temps perdu' when I was three (or some impossibly early age) and I was captivated". Maybe it's true but ... it's such a discouraging thing to say because we all instantly think we might as well give up. I remember someone or other saying she read 'Pride and Prejudice' when she was eight, and ... actually, assuming you have the reading skills to slog through it, what on earth would you get out of it? You don't have the life experience, the emotional equipment, or the knowledge of relationships to be able to understand the motives of the characters. So just for thickies like me, I'll admit that I didn't come to Wind in the Willows until I was an adult. As a child I read Billy Bunter, the William books, and Jennings and Derbyshire. (it was a long time ago!) And in spite of my obvious backwardness, I did manage to publish a couple of books eventually. So ... no slur on the talented Mr Gaiman, but the fact that you DIDN'T read 'The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' when you were two, shouldn't be allowed to put you off!

Narnia books inspired me to be a writer as well. Another childhood favorite was Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie series. Now I'm writing suspense romance (Hiding at The Wild Rose Press) and historical romance coming soon Abbey's Tale.

This was 5 minutes long but seemed like an hour.

Gaiman likes Moorcock. What a pun. American Gods is in my top three books that changed my life.

I MUST HAVE this book!

It was also Narnia for me, but more specifically Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I've been obsessed with fantasy and sailing ever since. Second for me would be the Harper Hall trilogy by Anne McCaffrey. A teacher had lent it to me in primary school. And lastly, Dune.

He is so awesome

Its cool to think that Whatever happened to the Caped Crusader is an homage and thanks to Alan Moore for his Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow. Both of them are some of my favorite writers ever.

I had to pause and reflect on the fact that if he hadn't picked up that copy of 'Saga of the Swamp Thing' we may have missed out on Sandman and been all the poorer for it.

Mine are the Narnia Books, Michael Moorcock's "The Ice Schooner" and "The Killing Joke", Alan Moore and Dune.

i love the short chapters of Narnia...after reading one, you just have to read the next...

Moorcock did it for me too, absolutely adored the Elric saga.

I think The Grapes of Wrath had a really big effect on me when I first read it

Those Narnia books meant a lot to me, as did Gaiman's The Sandman .... Both would be on my Top 3