On Reading is made up of three rather nosy friends who are curious about how, what and, most importantly, why readers read. The simplest way to find the answers to our questions was to ask – so we started knocking on people’s doors, and got them to tell us about their library. Although reading is an act that most of us can perform, and many of us derive immense pleasure from doing so, our reasons for reading are as varied as our personalities. It gives us great pleasure to share with you our encounters with the readers who so generously gave us their time.