Research on reading and developmental reading disorders has almost exclusively questioned the immediate or proximate basis of these skills and deficits. A supplementary view is offered that considers reading ability from an evolutionary vantage. It is argued that in contrast to language, which has a long natural history in man and which has risen from a widespread biological adaptation in our species, reading has not, until very recently, exerted ecological pressure on humans and therefore no specific biological adaptations have occurred for these skills. It follows that developmental reading disorders may be due to genetically based, naturally occurring variants in neurological traits and not the result of pathological processes.