ABSTRACT
We can all agree that reading is one of the principal tools for understanding our humanity, for making sense of our world, for advancing the democratic ideal, and for generating personal and national prosperity. We can agree that ability to read allows us to achieve three important goals: building knowledge (e.g., learning about the physical world); acquiring information for accomplishing tasks (e.g., installing a VCR); and deriving pleasure and feeding our interests (e.g., how our favorite athletic team has fared). Lacking reading ability, our lives would be very different. They would not be as rich.
