The Road to Lisp Survey
A newbie-by-newbie informal survey of what led folks to give Lisp a serious try and what they think of it. Especially interesting are young Lispniks and those who have tried Lisp only recently, but old-timer responses are welcome, too.

To add yourself to the survey, simply follow the instructions on The Road to Lisp Questions.

If you are in a hurry, try the RtL Highlight Film. There you will find one excerpt from most responses (95%) and a matching link to the full Road behind the excerpt.

Or try a structured approach:

Or just poke around at random in the responses to date:

See also the comp.lang.lisp thread Your Introduction To Lisp... from 2002.

And of course YoungLispers often mention how they got involved with Lisp.