How do we learn to read? The brain of every new reader—a child who has just begun to develop this skill—has the extraordinary ability to stretch beyond its original abilities to understand written symbols. In the millennia since man learned to read, there has been a true intellectual evolution of our entire species. The brain of someone who deciphers the Sumerian cuneiform script on clay tablets functions differently than that of someone who reads alphabets, and even more so than that of someone who is familiar with the latest technologies. There is both progress and cause for concern: writing has reduced the need for memory training, and the increased flow of information and features of modern digital culture may have profound consequences for our brains in the future. In this book, which instantly gained worldwide fame, the eminent American neuroscientist Marianne Wolfe explores how the "open architecture" plasticity of our brains helps and hinders people's attempts to learn to read and process written language. The reader will have a fascinating journey through times and eras, getting acquainted with various illustrations of the development of an individual person - from a baby listening to a lullaby to a real expert - a reader of Proust's works. By understanding how the evolution and development of reading has changed the very structure of the human brain and the essence of our intellectual life, we will understand that we really are what we read.