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How long does it take to read 700 pages?
About 14 h at 250 words per minute, the average adult reading speed. That assumes 300 words a page, so about 210,000 words in total.
At your speed
| Reading speed | Time | |
|---|---|---|
| 200 WPM | 17 h 30 min | slower than average |
| 250 WPM | 14 h | the average adult pace |
| 300 WPM | 11 h 40 min | a comfortable fast reader |
| 450 WPM | 7 h 47 min | trained, or RSVP |
| 600 WPM | 5 h 50 min | RSVP at speed |
Most people do not know their own number, and the guess is usually too high. Measure it in two minutes and the row that applies to you stops being a guess.
What 700 pages actually looks like
Roughly a long literary novel. That comparison is worth more than the minutes, because 14 h of a novel and 14 h of a textbook are not the same afternoon. On difficult material the limit is thinking, not looking, and no reading technique moves that very far.
A page is not a fixed amount of text. This same 700-page book is 140,000 words in large print and 350,000 words set as a textbook, which is a difference of hours. If the word count is available anywhere, use it instead — the calculator takes either.
Read it faster, if it is the kind of thing that can be
ReadKinetic shows one word at a time, in the same spot, so your eyes stop travelling. On familiar prose that is real time saved. It is free, needs no account, opens the books you already own, and nothing you read leaves your device.
Open ReadKinetic →Common questions
How long does it take to read 700 pages?
About 14 h at 250 words per minute, which is the average adult reading speed for non-fiction. That assumes 300 words a page, which is typical for a trade paperback. A slow reader at 200 WPM takes 17 h 30 min; a fast one at 400 takes 8 h 45 min.
Is 700 pages a lot to read?
It is roughly a long literary novel. Whether that is a lot depends entirely on what it is: 14 h of a novel goes faster than 14 h of a textbook, because the limit on difficult material is thinking rather than looking.
Why is a page count a worse question than a word count?
Because a page is not a fixed amount of text. The same 700-page book is 140,000 words in large print and 350,000 words set as a textbook — a difference of 14 h in reading time. If you can find the word count, use it.
Can you read it faster than that?
Up to a point, and the honest answer is that it depends on the material. Removing eye movement with RSVP takes out the part of reading that is mechanical, which on familiar prose is real time. On dense or unfamiliar material the limit is comprehension, not eye movement, and no technique moves that much.