revealed that reading is older than printing or even reading begins with wonder at the world about us. It starts with the recognition of repeated events like thunder, lightning and rain It starts with the seasons and the growth of things, It starts with an ache that vanished with food or water. It occurs when time is dis- covered. Reading begins with the management of signs of things It begins when the mother, holding the child's hand says that a day is "beautiful" or "cold" or that the wind is "soft." Reading is "signs and portents," the flight of birds the changing moon, the "change less" sun and the "fixed" stars that move through the night. Reading is the practical management of the world about us.