This introductory-to-intermediate reading text provides motivating and engaging readings selected to gain and hold readers' attention; clear explanations to help them grasp basic concepts for successful reading; and a wide variety of well-developed practice exercise designed to provide opportunities for critical thinking, interpretation, and even some improvisation.

The new Fourth Edition includes:

New reading selections. The variety of engaging and enlightening readings established in previous editions of Reading and All That Jazz continues with over a dozen new selections. These include more excerpts from introductory textbooks covering a diverse range of disciplines—psychology, criminal justice, multi-media literacy, child development, and government—than ever, as well as a complete chapter on "Jazz in America." The authors also draw material from popular sources, including magazines, newspapers, memoirs, fiction, poems, comic strips, and even songs.

A "jazzy" full-color design. Reading selections designed to look the way they would in their original contexts help students transfer their reading experience from the classroom to other college courses and everyday life. New full-color visuals – graphs and charts, photographs, illustrations, and cartoons – add interest and provide practice with interpreting graphics throughout the text.

New exercises and in-depth assignments. Part 2 contains new exercises on topic, main idea, and details that use current, up-to-the-minute material on cultural diversity and nonverbal communication. Features such as In Your Own Words, Written Assignments, and Internet Activities designed to hone critical acumen, writing skills, and curiosity about the world, now include new, more in-depth questions.

Updated chapter on organizing textbook information. Chapter 15 has been completely revised. It contains an all new textbook selection "Jazz in America," from The World of Music, accompanied by all new comprehension and vocabulary exercises.

Greater emphasis on cultural diversity. College campuses are increasingly diverse, and the readings and activities in Reading and All That Jazz reflect this fact.