Born of a high school English teacher's frustration with his students' attitudes about books, this book presents, verbatim, nearly 50 letters sent to the teacher in response to his letter to the editor of the "San Francisco Chronicle" asking readers to write about their experiences with books and the role that books and literature played in their lives. Each letter in the book is preceded by a quote from a famous person on the power of books. The book is about reading--why people do it, how they began doing it, and who started them reading or changed them. The letters in the book (chosen from over 1000 pages of letters received by the teacher) were written by people of all ages--from second graders to septuagenarians. Appendixes contain extensive lists of recommended books for all types of readers. (RS)