I think this is a must-read for most people here: A History of Reading, by Alberto Manguel. It's amazing - goes through the actual way people read, like how it physically happens, although that's not completely understood... and the history of reading - out loud -> silently, etc, as well as pictures to be 'read'... and that's as far as I've got, so far. But it's a very engaging read in itself, and I think it's great because it [will probably] makes you think about how you yourself go about the act of reading. It's also interesting to me because one of my subjects last semester spent ages going on about the four ways people can 'read'...