Tolkien: The author or the reader (No, this is not another canonicity thread)

[Hakon]

Before I read LOTR I was not into writing but I was into reading. After reading it I began to get more interested in writing. Before reading anything by Tolkien I had an interest in history mostly the middle ages and after reading LOTR my interest expanded to many more ares of history. Which is how I managed to learn more about South American history than anything else despite putting more effort into learning about other areas of history. Overall reading Tolkien expanded my few interests into many more.