I remember watching an old Batman cartoon (well, maybe not that old…it was one of those Batman/Superman Adventures ones) when Batman gets stuck in a dreamworld. The way he figures out he’s dreaming is when he tries to read his newspaper, the letters get all scrambled up, and he is unable to read anything. After waking himself up, he explained to someone (Robin, maybe?) that when dreaming, the part of the brain that translates words into thoughts goes to sleep, rendering reading impossible. How true is this? I always took it as gospel because Bruce Wayne’s the man, but I just want to verify his genius. 
My two cents: it varies with me, personally. I’ve had dreams where I’m reading something, but then I wake up and don’t remember the words, and then I’ve had dreams where I read something and remember it later. I’ve heard the same thing, though.
Oh! I remember that episode from WB carton series! It had the Scarecrow, who trapped Batman in a dream where is parents were alive and he lived a happy, normal life. Oh, and there was another person who pretended to be Batman. And Bruce got committed becaue everyone thought he was nuts when he kept on saying he was Batman. Escaped the dream by jumping off a clocktower (kids, don’t try this at home).
I response to your OP, I have no idea. I have read things in my dreams a few times, but I only got the general meaning - I can’t remember actually reading the material word for word.
Well, when I dream I sometimes have fun by trying to read a book that is around (or summon one up if I have that much control). It is amusing as my brain quickly and flawlessly summons up buckets of crazy for my reading pleasure.
It makes no sense, but I am reading.
Once I read the best damn book in the universe in a dream. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what it was about. I wish I could write it, but the minute I woke up all I could remember was that it was a FABULOUS book…
I’m still frustrated, and this was years ago!
As someone who, when (which is very rare, I admit) not sleep deprived, often has lucid dreams, I can attest to this. Attempting to read is a very good clue as to whether or not you’re in a dream.
The problem is, you can look at a book or a paper in a dream and understand what it means. If you don’t examine it carefully, this will seem as if you are reading it. If you try to “read” it twice (especially if looking away or closing the book first), or backwards, or check the spelling of words, then most minds (or at least mine) will fail to assure you that things are fine.
Whatever portions of the brain are active while dreaming, they’re not too bright (mechanical devices, electrical devices, etc. essentially never reliably work as expected) in terms of logical processes, but if you’re not careful you’ll miss them. Very illogical things in a dream can seem logical until you awaken.
Strangely, when I read the thread title, that exact episode of the Batman cartoon was the first thing that came to mind. That may be because it’s the only time I’ve ever heard that one can’t read in dreams. In my experience, it isn’t quite true. I can often read writing on signs, names of stores, etc. in my dreams. A few days ago I had a dream in which I had to use my social security number for something on the computer. I distinctly remember reading the numbers as I typed them in. (Not a very exciting dream.)
I’ve had very detailed dreams about reading. Within the last year, I dreamt that I was reading a new book by Michael Ondaatje, and got distracted by the unusual typeface, which had odd little serifs that looked as though they were modelled after the barbs on fishhooks. I turned to the copyright page to find out more about the font, and was surprised to learn that it was called Gothic Fiction. I woke up as I was trying to reconcile the several contradictions that this presented with my expectations.
I’m quite sure that this wasn’t a fudged approximation of reading, the way information can sometimes seem to be conveyed in nonsensical ways, since I remembered specifically how the letters looked, especially in the word that first directed my attention to it, which was, incidentally, “liminal.”
The Weak Force: same with me. It seemed really silly to me. Of course you can’t read while you’re dreaming. You can’t walk, either (unlesss you’re a sleepwalker). That doesn’t stop people from dreaming that they’re walking; why should it stop someone from dreaming that they’re reading?
I would imagine he actually said “written words”, since obviously he didn’t have trouble talking :).
But it’s like like there’s a specific “reading” part of the brain. Maybe the automatic, uncounscious translation is localized, but to read all you need is to know what words are made up of what letters. Sounding out words would take longer, but I don’t see how you could lose that ability without losing your memory, in which case how would you rember what the fact that you can’t read means?
I cannot read in dreams; I can, however, interperet text as meaningful. Characters and digits are always all scrambled up (yes, just like the Batman episode). I like this though, as its a great clue for inducing lucidity.
[Although often times my brain comes up with a “convenient” justification for it.]