The beginning of this discussion was on Monday, July 2nd… 
Taking that last link will introduce you to our topic of conversation and 9 purported types of readers…
Though, in that last post, I did make allowances for many, many more kinds of readers…
I suppose you could start at slow and fast readers; then, perhaps, old-book-readers and cereal-box-readers…
However, the reader who commented on our last post (allowing us to continue this conversation) and who happens to be an author from Australia, said:
“As far as I’m concerned there is only one type of reader – a human being who picks up a book, trains their eyes on the page, recognises the marks on the page as letters, which make up words, which they miraculously understand. This miracle is probably due the attention of a good teacher who taught the lucky reader how to decipher these mysterious marks in elementary school. A person who does not do this is a non-reader and they need the help of a good and caring teacher also :-) “
So, this author sees only readers and non-readers, which might seem narrow minded; although, it could also be seen as just as valid as (actually, more valid than) merely old-book-readers and cereal-box-readers—that last differentiation leaving out millions of people…
We certainly seem able to get along quite well with classifications like those who always sneeze a lot and those who don’t…
In fact, for the sake of discussion, I’ll quote from an article by Maria Popova:
“Categories are how we navigate the world, for better or for worse—this impulse toward organization helps us (to borrow Umberto Eco’s wonderful phrase) make infinity comprehensible, but its perilous flipside is the seedbed of stereotypes.”
So, our writer from Australia is absolutely avoiding stereotyping…
What do You think…?
Or, should I ask what do you Feel…?
Perhaps, the number and types of readers (if there are more than pure and simple Readers…) is something that depends on each type of individual…
Oh my! Do I have to now ask how many types of individuals there are? :-)
Really, what’s your take on types of readers?
Do we need to determine 3 or 5 or 50 kinds of readers?
Perhaps it depends on how each of us Sees the World, eh?
And, if you leave a comment about how many types of readers there are (or should be…), I hope you’ll say just a bit about why…
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If you don’t see a way to comment, try the link at the upper right of this post…
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For Private Comments or Questions, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com
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Notes from An Alien 
There are different types of readers, or, rather, readers with different levels of understanding and appreciation. Once a reader has reached a level ( about reading age 11) to be able to understand a simple newspaper they need only increase their vocabulary to become a skilled reader but this does not make them a good interpreter of what they are reading. Some folk only read fiction, others only non-fiction. I like your cereal packet image. I used to do that – read every word I saw but there are still books, like Proust, that I cannot enjoy reading and give up. It is the level of thinking that goes into the reading process that differentiates readers. As long as there is a variety of reading matter we can enjoy the written word.
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Very good, Julie—you’ve made it possible to continue the conversation :-)
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