he's 40+ but still find difficulty in reading

there really are people like that, and I guess the best thing to do is to seek and expert advise. There are specialists who can help develop a recovery/treatment plan for these cases.

Why don't you consult a doctor?

Some people have problems in reading, like Churchill, but they still can get information by other ways and become a great person. In present world, letters are most useful tools to transport information, while he can not use it. I think you should get him to see the doctor. If he is the kind like Churchill, you may help him to use other ways to have knowledge he should need in today's world.

I am sure that that is a learning disorder. Some of them can be helped, but unfortunatly it is best when those disorders are helped in childhood. Still, maybe there is a way of helping him. Not all jobs need reading. Maybe he could find a job with hand skills.

He may have dyslexia. The images that are transferred to the brain can get confused for people who suffer this condition. It is very possible to be highly intelligent yet not know how to read. My reading comprehension is lower than my verbal comprehension...people are just different.

I agree with the other posters here. I think it is dyslexia. Many famous people have had it and dealt with it. Here is a good page on the subject: http://www.beatingdyslexia.com/dyslexia-treatment.html It's good that he has caring people like you in his life. Good luck and have a good day!

fearelessgara it does sound like he is dyslexic and he will need the help of an expert in the field of language and dyslexia to help him to learn to overcome the disease.I am sure he can be helped with the right teacher.

He must be dyslexic. Has he ever been to a psychologists when he was younger? Tom Cruise is one great actor, and he confessed as being a dyslexic. Dyslexia, according to Wikipedia :[i]is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, processing speed, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, language skills/verbal comprehension, and/or rapid naming. Dyslexia is distinct from reading difficulties resulting from other causes, such as a non-neurological deficiency with vision or hearing, or from poor or inadequate reading instruction. It is believed that dyslexia can affect between 5 and 10 percent of a given population although there have been no studies to indicate an accurate percentage.[/i] Treatment for dyslexia consists of using educational tools to enhance the ability to read. Medicines and counseling are usually not used to treat dyslexia. An important part of treatment is educating yourself about the condition. The earlier dyslexia is recognized and addressed, the better. Starting treatment when a child is young can improve reading and may even prevent reading problems in the first years of school.2 But reading will likely not ever be easy for a person with dyslexia. Your friend being a bit older now, well, I am not sure how fats he could cope up if the tools will be provided to him.