Viewing literacy as the ability to make use of all available possibilities of written language, the essays in this collection deal with a broad range of literacy related topics and issues. Titles of the 13 essays, written over a 10-year period, are as follows: (1) "The Politics of Ignorance"; (2) "Twelve Easy Ways to Make Learning to Read Difficult"; (3) "The Role of Prediction in Reading"; (4) "Learning to Read by Reading"; (5) "Making Sense of Reading--and of Reading Instruction"; (6) "The Uses of Language"; (7) "Conflicting Approaches to Reading Research and Instruction"; (8) "The Language Arts and the Learner's Mind"; (9) "Myths of Writing"; (10) "The Unspeakable Habit"; (11) "Demonstrations, Engagement, and Sensitivity"; (12) "The Choice between Teachers and Programs"; and (13) "A Metaphor for Literacy--Creating Worlds or Shunting Information?" A concluding section provides responses to questions frequently asked the author. (FL)