Reading time calculator
How long will this book take?
Put in a word count and a speed. It is worked out in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere, and there is nothing to sign up for.
Page counts are the weakest input here. The same 400-page book runs anywhere from 72,000 to 200,000 words depending on trim size and leading, so this figure carries that uncertainty with it. Use a word count if your file gives you one.
Twelve books, actually measured
Click any row to load it into the calculator. Word counts are approximate, because editions differ — but they are far closer to the truth than page counts, which is the whole problem with the usual way of estimating.
| Book | Words | 250 wpm | 400 wpm | 600 wpm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Old Man and the Sea | 27,000 | 1 h 48 min | 1 h 8 min | 45 min |
| The Great Gatsby | 47,000 | 3 h 8 min | 1 h 58 min | 1 h 18 min |
| Fahrenheit 451 | 46,000 | 3 h 4 min | 1 h 55 min | 1 h 17 min |
| Brave New World | 64,000 | 4 h 16 min | 2 h 40 min | 1 h 47 min |
| Nineteen Eighty-Four | 89,000 | 5 h 56 min | 3 h 43 min | 2 h 28 min |
| Pride and Prejudice | 122,000 | 8 h 8 min | 5 h 5 min | 3 h 23 min |
| Jane Eyre | 183,000 | 12 h 12 min | 7 h 38 min | 5 h 5 min |
| Moby-Dick | 209,000 | 13 h 56 min | 8 h 43 min | 5 h 48 min |
| Crime and Punishment | 211,000 | 14 h 4 min | 8 h 48 min | 5 h 52 min |
| Anna Karenina | 349,000 | 23 h 16 min | 14 h 33 min | 9 h 42 min |
| Les Misérables | 545,000 | 36 h 20 min | 22 h 43 min | 15 h 8 min |
| War and Peace | 587,000 | 39 h 8 min | 24 h 28 min | 16 h 18 min |
Straight to a length
If you already know the number, these skip the typing. Each one is the answer for that length at five speeds.
Or by page count, if that is all you have:
Why page counts lie
Every calculator that asks only for pages is quietly guessing. A mass-market paperback holds roughly 275 words a page; a trade paperback nearer 300; a dense textbook can carry 500. Large print drops to around 200. That is a spread of more than two to one before anyone has read a word, which is why a 400-page book is anywhere between 72,000 and 200,000 words.
So the number above is only as good as what you put into it. If your reader will tell you a word count, use that. If not, pick the density that matches the book in your hand and treat the answer as a range rather than a promise. The longer argument, with the twelve books above set out in full, is in how long it takes to read a book.
What speed should you put in?
If you have never measured yourself, 250 words per minute is a fair place to start. The measured average for adults reading English silently is 238 words per minute for non-fiction and 260 for fiction; reading aloud averages 183, because your speech rate becomes the ceiling. Where those figures come from, and why the internet routinely quotes numbers four times higher, is in the average reading speed.
Guessing is optional. The reading speed test measures you twice — once reading normally, once with the words brought to you — and multiplies both by a comprehension score, so skimming earns nothing. It takes about two minutes and gives you a figure to type into the box above.
Reading it faster
The hours above assume ordinary reading, which means your eyes spend a good deal of their time travelling rather than reading. Roughly 10 to 20 per cent of eye movements go backwards without you deciding to, and every line ends with a return sweep that undershoots and has to correct itself.
ReadKinetic removes both by showing one word at a time in a fixed position, so there is no line to sweep back to and nothing to re-find. It opens 39 file formats on your own device — EPUB, PDF, Kindle files, Word documents — with no upload and no account. If you are not sure a file will open, check it first.
Common questions
How long does it take to read 90,000 words?
About six hours at the average adult pace of 250 words per minute, three hours forty-five at 400, and two and a half hours at 600. Ninety thousand words is a typical novel.
How long does it take to read a 300-page book?
Between four and a half and nine hours, and the range is the honest answer. A page holds roughly 275 words in a mass-market paperback and around 500 in a dense textbook, so a page count alone cannot pin the time down. Use a word count wherever you have one.
What reading speed should I use?
238 words per minute is the measured average for adults reading non-fiction silently in English, and 260 for fiction. If you have never measured yourself, start there. The reading test on this site gives you your own figure in about two minutes.
Does reading faster mean understanding less?
Past a point, yes. The gains that survive testing come from removing wasted eye movement rather than from skimming. Reading one word at a time in a fixed position removes the return sweep between lines and the small backwards jumps that take up 10 to 20 per cent of ordinary reading.