Recently a team of reading specialists from fourteen different nations completed a study in comparative reading with the aim of comparing literacy acquisition in countries with different cultures and languages in an attempt to derive new hypotheses regarding sociological, psychological, and linguistic variables in learning to read and write. Cross-cultural studies have shown the systematic relationship between the culture pattern of a society and the basic personality and mode of cognitive functioning of the children who are reared according to the social institutions in that pattern. This article discusses the differences in the value placed upon reading in several countries, the linguistic differences in learning to read in different languages, the varied sexual restrictions or customs in literacy education in the fourteen countries, and racial differences in reading instruction and achievement. The position of literacy on the scale of cultural priorities of the countries in the study is presented. And, finally, the cultural variation in the purpose of acquiring literacy is discussed. (TO)