At an average adult pace, it takes about 1 hour 45 minutes to read 100 pages of an ordinary book. A slower reader needs about 2.5 hours, a faster one about 1 hour 25 minutes. That makes 200 pages roughly 3.5 hours, 300 pages about 5 hours and a 500-page brick close to 9 hours of pure reading time.
The table below goes from 10 to 1,000 pages at three speeds, all based on a 2019 meta-analysis of reading rate that pooled 190 studies. Below it: why your own book might take longer, how to spread pages over days, and a ten-minute way to find your own number.
How long it takes to read 10 to 1,000 pages
We assume 250 words per page, a typical paperback novel (our assumption: pocket editions often have fewer, large-format books more). The three speeds come from the meta-analysis: most adults read between 175 and 300 words per minute, with an average of 238.
| Pages | Slower (175 wpm) | Average (238 wpm) | Faster (300 wpm) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 pages | 14 min | 11 min | 8 min |
| 20 pages | 30 min | 20 min | 17 min |
| 30 pages | 45 min | 30 min | 25 min |
| 50 pages | 1 h 10 min | 55 min | 40 min |
| 100 pages | 2 h 25 min | 1 h 45 min | 1 h 25 min |
| 150 pages | 3 h 35 min | 2 h 40 min | 2 h 5 min |
| 200 pages | 4 h 45 min | 3 h 30 min | 2 h 45 min |
| 250 pages | 5 h 55 min | 4 h 25 min | 3 h 30 min |
| 300 pages | 7 h 10 min | 5 h 15 min | 4 h 10 min |
| 400 pages | 9 h 30 min | 7 h | 5 h 35 min |
| 500 pages | 11 h 55 min | 8 h 45 min | 6 h 55 min |
| 600 pages | 14 h 15 min | 10 h 30 min | 8 h 20 min |
| 800 pages | 19 h 5 min | 14 h | 11 h 5 min |
| 1,000 pages | 23 h 50 min | 17 h 30 min | 13 h 55 min |
These are minutes with your eyes on the page: no breaks, no rereading a paragraph because the doorbell rang. For a specific book and the date you’d finish it, use the reading time calculator.
How many pages can you read in an hour?
Fiction tends to go a little faster than this. The same meta-analysis puts silent reading of novels at about 260 words per minute on average, mostly because fiction uses shorter words. So if you’re reading a thriller rather than a history book, you can shave a few minutes off every row.
If 30 pages an hour is what you get, that’s fine too. Speed changes with the book, the time of day and how tired you are. It isn’t a score. More on what is normal in average reading speed.
Why your book might take longer than the table says
The number of pages is the least reliable part of the sum. Two 300-page books can differ by a factor of two in words.
- Page density. A large-print edition might hold 180 words per page, a dense academic book 400 or more. If your book feels heavy, count the words on one full page and redo the maths.
- Textbooks and study. When you read to learn, you slow down, go back and take notes. A sensible rule of thumb is to plan about twice the time from the table.
- Language. The research numbers are for adults reading in English. Languages with longer words, such as German or Polish, show fewer words per minute, although there are also fewer words per page. Reading in a second language is slower for most people.
- E-readers and phones. Pages there depend on font size, so “page 100” means little. Go by the percentage or the book’s print page count.
- Your attention. Notifications are the biggest hidden cost. A phone in another room does more for your reading time than any speed-reading trick. See how to focus while reading.
How many days to read a 300-page book?
Most people don’t read a book in one go. Here’s a 300-page novel at the average pace, spread over different daily habits:
| Daily reading | Pages per day | Done in |
|---|---|---|
| 10 minutes | about 10 | about 32 days |
| 20 minutes | about 19 | about 16 days |
| 30 minutes | about 29 | about 11 days |
| 1 hour | about 57 | about 6 days |
Twenty minutes a day works out to about two books a month, or 20 to 25 books a year. That’s well above what most people read, without turning reading into a second job. If you want a goal that fits your days, see how many pages a day to read and how many books a year is realistic.
Is an audiobook faster than reading?
Usually not. Audiobooks are typically narrated at roughly 150 to 160 words per minute, slower than average silent reading. At normal speed, a 300-page novel runs about 8 hours as audio, compared with about 5 hours on the page. Playing it at 1.5x speed brings the two close together.
Listening has its own advantage, though: it fits into time you can’t read in, like commuting, cooking or walking the dog. Whether it “counts” is up to you; we argue it does in do audiobooks count as reading.
Find your own number in 10 minutes
The table uses averages. Your own pace takes ten minutes to measure:
- Pick the book you’re reading now, not a textbook.
- Note the page and set a 10-minute timer.
- Read as you normally would. Don’t speed up for the test.
- When the timer goes off, count the pages and multiply by 6. That’s your pages per hour.
- Divide the pages you have left by that number. That’s how many hours stand between you and the last page.
Prefer a ready-made test? Test your reading speed online: a short passage, three questions and your words per minute.
Famous books and short ones
Curious how this plays out on real books? We did the maths for how long famous books take to read, from The Great Gatsby (about 3 hours) to the whole Harry Potter series (about 70). And if you’d rather finish something tonight, here are short books you can read in one sitting.
Talemi keeps count for you on every book. Log the page you’re on, and the app shows how far you’ve come, your daily goal and your reading stats. See how Talemi works or join early access.
FAQ
How long does it take to read 200 pages? About 3.5 hours at an average pace of 238 words per minute, assuming 250 words per page. A slower reader needs about 4 h 45 min, a faster one about 2 h 45 min.
How long does it take to read 500 pages? About 8 h 45 min of reading time at an average pace. At 30 minutes a day, that’s around 18 days.
How long does it take to read 30 pages? About half an hour for an average reader, and closer to 45 minutes for a slow, careful one.
Can you read a 300-page book in a day? Yes, if you have a free day: it’s about 5 hours of reading time at an average pace. Spread across breaks, a long weekend day is enough.
Sources
- Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109.
- Rayner, K., Schotter, E. R., Masson, M. E. J., Potter, M. C., & Treiman, R. (2016). So Much to Read, So Little Time: How Do We Read, and Can Speed Reading Help? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 17(1).
