A reading activities survey as part of the Targeted Research and Development Reading Program was done by interviewing 3,504 adults, aged 16 years or older, selected by area probability sampling. Among the preliminary findings was that the most frequent type of reading is newspaper reading. Seven out of 10 people read or look at a newspaper during a typical day, and they spend an average of about one-half hour with it. Most reading time is spent on the main news, local news, and comics. The most frequently given reasons for reading newspapers are to obtain general information, to obtain specific information, and to obtain another view on issues. Socioeconomic status of the newspaper readers or nonreaders is not markedly different. However, higher socioeconomic status is often connected to reading more than one paper, reading newspapers at work, and with reading editorials, letters to the editor, sports sections, and movie, book, or other reviews. Almost all respondents reported reading something while shopping, most often to find specific information. About 4 percent of the respondents were classified as nonreaders; one-half of these nonreaders were visually handicapped, one-fourth were foreign language readers, and one-fourth were illiterate. (AW)