Entertainment and the process of reading are two spheres of human activity which have kept Professor Harding's interest for more than forty years. Time and again he would focus his attention on them: studying the nature of these activities, their relation to other human activities, their impact upon the individual and their role in society as a whole, and examining individual features of the reading process, analysing various misconceived notions about the nature and position of these activities in human life and investigating the possibilities of improving the capacity to respond to art at a more practiced level. In this way - approaching the problems of entertainment and reader response from different points of view and elaborating various details and aspects over several decades - his sustained efforts to penetrate into these activities have resul.ted in an important body of knowledge encompassing a far-reaching concept of entertainment and of reading built upon a well-balanced account of them as integral human activities, and of their wider social relevance.