ABSTRACT
Reading mingles curiously book with person and person with person. Thus, what began as a simple inquiry into the effect of personality on reading has led us far afield. We had to develop and draw on a very general theory of motivation: the human being seeks what looks to him like the best solution to the multiple demands on his ego within the possible variations of his identity theme. This theory of motivation, applied to read ers reading, led to an equally general theory of experiencing. In perceiving reality, the individual shapes it to match his ways of dealing with reality. To the extent he succeeds, he can take in an experience from outside, blend into it his characteristic wishes for pleasure, and transform it by means of his charac teristic sublimations.
