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An EPUB speed reader that reads your EPUBs.
Import a DRM-free EPUB and read it one word at a time, at a pace you choose, in your browser. Your chapters survive, your place is kept, and the file never leaves your device — because it is never uploaded in the first place.
Open ReadKinetic and drag an .epub onto it. There is nothing to install and no account to create; the import happens on your machine, and you are reading in a few seconds.
What it does with the file
An EPUB is a zip archive of HTML, and getting a clean stream of words out of one is more work than it sounds. This is what happens between dropping the file and the first word appearing.
Reads the book's real title and author
From the EPUB's own metadata, not the filename — so the_time_machine-hgwells.epub arrives in your library as The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. Editors, illustrators and translators are filtered out, because they are marked as such in the file and are almost never who you mean by "author".
Keeps your chapters
The table of contents is read from the book, so you get a real chapter list to jump between and a sense of how much of the current chapter is left — rather than one undifferentiated progress bar across 200,000 words.
Opens at chapter one
Most EPUBs open on the cover, then the title page, then copyright, then a contents list you have no use for. ReadKinetic works out where the book actually begins from its own structure and starts you there. It is deliberately cautious: where there is any doubt it leaves you at the very start rather than risk skipping real writing, and the front matter is always still there if you scrub back.
Strips the noise that isn't the book
Running headers, footers, stray printed page numbers and page-break anchors are removed instead of landing in the middle of your sentences, and words broken across a line are rejoined — while genuine compounds like "well-being" are left alone.
Uses the publisher's own typeface
If the EPUB embeds a font, ReadKinetic pulls it out and reads the book in it — the way the book was meant to look. You can override that globally, or pin a specific font to a single book, or upload your own .ttf or .otf.
Handles the script it is actually in
Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Khmer, Lao and Burmese do not put spaces between words, and most readers flash an entire paragraph as a single "word" as a result. ReadKinetic finds the real word boundaries, centres ideographic words, and reports Japanese speed in 文字/分. There is no language setting; it works it out from the text.
Every one of those steps runs in your browser. The book is parsed and stored on your device, so importing works offline, and your reading list is not data anyone else holds.
Why one word at a time
RSVP — Rapid Serial Visual Presentation — puts each word in the same fixed position, so your eyes stop moving. That removes three costs at once: the saccades your eyes make along every line, the long return sweep back to the start of the next one, and the reflexive regressions backwards into text you already understood.
None of that is comprehension — it is eye mechanics, and it is where a surprising share of your reading time goes. The realistic result is 350–500 words per minute with understanding intact, not the four-figure numbers speed reading courses advertise. If you want the honest version of that argument, including where it breaks down, it is here.
Formats it opens
EPUB is the one it does the most work for, because it is the only common format that carries real structure — chapters, metadata, embedded fonts — worth preserving. If your reading is mostly papers rather than books, the PDF page covers what changes.
What it will not do
It cannot open DRM-protected books. A DRM'd EPUB is encrypted and no browser-based reader can read it. That is not a limitation anyone can code around.
It does not sync between devices. Local-first means your place is kept on the device you read on, and nowhere else. That is the direct cost of not having a server, and it is the trade I chose.
It will not make dense material easy. Speed reading suits linear prose. Definitions, equations and anything you will be tested on word for word need the slow setting, or a different tool entirely.
Common questions
Is it really free?
Yes. There is no account, no trial, no paid tier that unlocks EPUB support, and no limit on how many books you import. It is funded by optional donations and a small ad on the blog.
Does my EPUB get uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is unzipped and parsed by JavaScript running in your own browser, and the resulting book is stored in your device's local storage. It never touches a server, which is also why it keeps working with no internet connection.
Can it open EPUBs bought from Kindle, Kobo or Google Play?
Only if they are DRM-free. A book protected by DRM is encrypted, and ReadKinetic cannot decrypt it — no browser-based reader can. Kindle books in .azw or .kfx format are not EPUBs at all. DRM-free EPUBs from Project Gutenberg, Standard Ebooks, itch.io, Humble Bundle, most indie publishers and most technical publishers open directly.
Does it keep my chapters?
Yes. ReadKinetic reads the EPUB's own table of contents, so you get a real chapter list you can jump between, and progress is reported per chapter rather than as one long bar.
Where does it save my place?
On your device, automatically and constantly. Close a 600-page book mid-chapter and it reopens exactly there, weeks later, with no sign-in. Because storage is local, your place does not follow you to a different device.
What speed should I use for a novel?
Most people land between 350 and 500 words per minute on fiction with comprehension intact — meaningfully faster than the 250 or so that ordinary page reading gives. Start at 300, and raise it only after a chapter you genuinely followed.
Does it work on an iPhone or iPad?
Yes. It is a Progressive Web App, so it runs in Safari and can be added to your home screen, after which it opens like an app and works offline. Getting a file into a browser on iOS is awkward, so there is also a one-tap clipboard paste for text.
What other formats can it read?
PDF, DOCX, TXT, RTF, HTML and Markdown, plus pasted text. PDFs have their own page.
Open a file and see.
Free, no account, nothing uploaded. Works offline once loaded.
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