This book on reading, with particular reference to Reading in a foreign language, consists of a set of specially commissioned papers reflecting up-to-date thinking and research in this area. It is hoped that a great deal of what is reported in this volume will be of relevance to the reading of a second or foreign language. Much of the research reported, however, is from studies of first language readers, which we consider to be of particular relevance to the foreign language reader. We do not and indeed find it difficult, to draw a clear distinction between first and foreign language reading – in fact, it is not clear to what extent reading in a foreign language is different from reading in a first language. Alderson’s paper in this volume addresses this issue, discussing to what extent problems in foreign language reading are due to problems with the foreign language and to what extent they are due to reading problems in general. The focus of Alderson’s paper is typical of the book as a whole it examines empirical evidence for competing hypotheses about the nature of reading, to see how far these are justified by the evidence.