This Is Reading

Reading is a many-faceted subject. A book on the topic may, like many, be a description of the physiological steps one takes in performing the process called reading. More commonly, it is a manual, describing the methods a teacher may use in teaching schoolage children to acquire the mechanical aspects of reading. Some, far fewer, are focused on the psychology of reading, such psychology usually emphasing the conscious and logical approaches to learning. Still others are directed toward some particular part of reading in its socio-historical setting, as for example, freedom to read, or adult reading habits, or variation in trends in the produc- tion of materials. All books of such nature are relevant to the omnibus topic-reading. A book which would include reading in its historical, sociological, and educational setting would indeed be a major undertaking, de- manding both scope and depth of knowledge from its author. Frank Jennings has written such an inclusive book, and he appro- priately calls it This Is Reading.