A Third of the Nation Cannot Read These Words [1986]

The http://nces.ed.gov/pubs93/93275.pdf National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) showed that 21% to 23% of adult Americans were not "able to locate information in text", could not "make low-level inferences using printed materials", and were unable to "integrate easily identifiable pieces of information."

It also estimated that 14% of Americans have extreme difficulty with reading and written comprehension.

Only 19% have a high level of literacy, 31.4% have a moderate level of literacy and 49.6% a low level of literacy.

They may have developed coping skills to manage everyday literacy demands but they find it difficult to face new challenges, such as job skills.

In this http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-01-08-adult-lite... USA Today article they stated that "about one in seven [adults] are saddled with such low literacy skills that it would be tough for them to read anything more challenging than a children's picture book."

The http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/274/21/1677 Journal of the American Medical Association states that "46 percent of American adults cannot understand the labels on their prescription medicine."

I submitted this mostly because of his analysis (in chapter 5) of the methodology that's used for the CIA World Factbook literacy figures, when they claim a 97% literacy rate. C.f. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_the_United_States