How did you learn to read, and at what age?

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I picked it up sometime in my toddler years, definitely by the age of four. I don't remember ever not knowing how to read. My mom just read to me, and I picked up the patterns. I also picked up speech patterns. Both my reading and speaking ability were behind my comprehension ability for a while, until I got the hang of getting meaning out of words. But reading really helped that; words on a page are much easier to process because auditory data can't be examined for as long as you like--visual data can be looked at for as long as you have the book in your hands. Soon after I learned to read I was making up my own sentences, and I learned the basics of back-and-forth conversations around age eight. My hyperlexia was no longer significant by age ten, or twelve at most, except when figuring out the motivations and unstated thoughts of fictional characters--something where I have only average ability now despite hitting the ceiling of every vocabulary test designed for the general population. (I don't think I'll hit the ceiling of the GRE, though; it'll be interesting to see just how many words I do know. I pick them up like pennies!)