I was first introduced to these books by a work collegue. We had many hours of discussion about Middle earth, and it brought out my love for fantasy. He eventually recommended RJ, and to quote Darth Squirrel, it has sucked years of my life. I was hooked from EotW and immediately went to eBay and bought them all. The rest is history, although rather short compared to some. Just as a timeline, I started reading these about a year before RJ died. I found Brandon on my own, actually, looking for good reading material. I started with Mistborn and have been exploring the cosmere ever since.
