How Long Does It Take to Read a Book?
Published 6/1/2026 · 4 min read · Everyday calculators
Lena Hoffmann — Science & education writer at OneKitly
Mathematics · Physics
Checked against 2 sources
To estimate how long a book takes to read, divide its word count by your reading speed in words per minute (wpm). Most adults read prose at about 250 wpm. A typical 90,000-word novel therefore takes roughly 90,000 ÷ 250 = 360 minutes, or about 6 hours. Faster readers at 350 wpm finish the same book in about 4 hours 17 minutes; slower readers at 180 wpm need about 8 hours 20 minutes.
Estimate reading time from word count and reading speed. Learn the simple formula, the average of about 250 words per minute, and a worked example for a full novel.
The reading-time formula
Reading time is a simple division: minutes = word count ÷ reading speed in words per minute. The only two numbers you need are how many words the text contains and how fast you read. To convert the result into hours and minutes, divide the minutes by 60 for whole hours and keep the remainder as minutes.
If you do not know a book's word count, estimate it from the page count. Mass-market fiction averages around 250 to 300 words per page, so a 320-page novel holds roughly 80,000 to 96,000 words. Non-fiction with dense text or small type can run higher per page.
What is an average reading speed?
For adults reading fiction or general prose silently, the average is about 250 words per minute. Reading speed in words per minute is the same measure everywhere — it does not depend on the language you speak. Comfortable readers land between 200 and 300 wpm; skilled readers reach 300 to 400 wpm without losing comprehension.
Speed also depends on the material. Light fiction reads fast; technical or academic text with unfamiliar terms slows most people to 150 to 200 wpm because they pause to absorb ideas. Reading aloud is much slower still, around 130 to 150 wpm, which is why audiobooks of the same novel run far longer than silent reading.
A worked example: a full novel
Take a 100,000-word novel and an average speed of 250 wpm. Reading time is 100,000 ÷ 250 = 400 minutes. Dividing by 60 gives 6 hours and 40 minutes. Split across a week, that is under an hour a day — a realistic pace for a bedtime reader.
The same book feels very different at other speeds. At a brisk 350 wpm it drops to about 4 hours 46 minutes; at a careful 180 wpm it stretches to about 9 hours 15 minutes. That spread is why knowing your own reading speed makes the estimate far more accurate than any generic average.
Worked with our own calculator
Reading time calculator
Given
- Word count
- 1,500
- Reading speed (words/min)
- 200
Result
- Reading time (minutes)
- 7.5
These figures are produced by the calculator below, not typed in by hand — they are recomputed whenever the tool changes.
Run it on your own figures →Frequently asked questions
- How many words are in an average book?
- A typical adult novel holds 80,000 to 100,000 words. Longer literary or fantasy titles can exceed 150,000 words, while short novels and young-adult books often run 50,000 to 70,000 words.
- Does reading speed depend on the language?
- Words per minute is a universal measure, so the formula works the same in every language. What varies is that a translated book may have a different word count, which changes the total time even at the same reading speed.
- How do I find my own reading speed?
- Read for exactly one minute, count the words you covered, and that number is your wpm. Repeat over a few passages and average the results for a reliable figure to plug into the formula.
- Why do audiobooks take longer than reading?
- Narration runs at speaking pace, roughly 130 to 150 wpm, while silent reading averages 250 wpm. Because the audio speed is fixed and slower, a book that takes 6 hours to read can run 10 hours or more as an audiobook.
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