It was an afternoon when both sides had the chances to break the deadlock, but where a 0-0 draw was ultimately a fair result.
For Colin Calderwood, the Forest manager, it will be considered a good point, on a day when injuries had robbed him of four first-choice strikers.
Reading boss Steve Coppell was left to lament a superb save by Forest keeper Paul Smith, which denied striker Kevin Doyle a late winner.
Forest had burst into life straight from the kick-off, with Robert Earnshaw latching onto a huge punt from Smith and feeding Chris Cohen in the box. The midfielder's skimming low strike was cleared off the boot of a defender.
Jimmy Kebe probed down the right flank but was given short shrift by Julian Bennett who snatched the ball off his toes as he burst into the penalty area.
While Earnshaw prodded and probed with some promise at the head of the Forest front-line, it was Smith who was forced to make the first save of any note, as Liam Rosenior lashed a low right-foot effort towards the bottom corner.
Forest hit back as Guy Moussi, a summer capture from French Second Division side Angers, was left appealing, unsuccessfully, for handball when Ibrahima Sonko blocked his rising shot on the edge of the box.
Earnshaw then flashed a low 25-yard shot inches wide of the post after Moussi had carved a gap in the Reading defence.
The striker should have done better after being picked out by Lewis McGugan's corner, firing a weak shot straight at Marcus Hahnemann.
It was not long until the keeper was tested though when Moussi powered a 20-yard shot towards the bottom corner, which the American saved adeptly.
After the break, another Moussi shot seemed goal-bound until deflected wide, while McGugan's free-kick was twice blocked by the defensive wall, after the midfielder tried his luck for a second time from the initial rebound.
Smith produced the save of the game to keep Reading at bay after Doyle had connected crisply with Stephen Hunt's cross, the keeper palming his header onto the bar and Bennett clearing the danger.
But Forest could have won it themselves in the final minute as Earnshaw weaved his way into the box through two challenges, before seeing Hahnemann get his body behind his driven shot.