# How fast do you read books/how long does it take you to read a typical 350 page book? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 4, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476 "2003-10-04T01:39:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476/21 "2003-10-04T15:05:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Keek \* > \*\*Just out of interest, Annie, why did you time yourself? \*\* “Look at the size of this thing. I wonder how long it’s gonna take me to read it?” ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476/22 "2003-10-04T15:27:51Z")
Fiction: 1-2 days Science-related non-fiction: 1-2 weeks History-reated non-fiction: 2 weeks and up I’ve been trying to get through _A History of the Arab Peoples_ for over a month and I’m still only on page 120. Not sure why it’s such a slog. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476/23 "2003-10-04T15:30:01Z")
I have no idea. I rarely read one book at a time. I’m trying to calculate backwards, based on the number of books I read in a month, which is usually in the range of 20-25. Soooo, I’d guess I’m a fairly fast reader. I’d like to be a really slow reader. I’d have to go to the library much less often. Julie ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476/24 "2003-10-04T18:09:32Z")
Normal fiction - 100 pages/hour. Genre fiction, slightly faster. If it’s an unfamiliar style or is otherwise difficult (single page sentences, lack of paragraph breaks, or just complex writing) it’s going to take longer. If I get bored or distracted, it could take months. For non-fiction, it depends on the subject, my previous knowledge, and how good the writer is at conveying her thoughts (I always seem to find non-fiction writers without organizational skills, which makes their writing impossible to read.) But I generally start with thinking 100 pages/hour and go from there based on the book. 350 pages… 4 hours. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476/25 "2003-10-04T19:38:04Z")
This semester I’ve been pressed for time and I’m only getting about fifty pages finished per day. Most of the time i get closer to one hundred pags a day, though as other people have said, it depends on the book. ---
**Author:** ![nisosbar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@nisosbar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nisosbar)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476/26 "2003-10-04T20:19:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ITR champion \* > \*\*This semester I’ve been pressed for time and I’m only getting about fifty pages finished per day. Most of the time i get closer to one hundred pags a day, though as other people have said, it depends on the book. \*\* Just like me - I’m reading some of these posts thinking, “100 pages per hour??” I guess I’m stupid, because I would not comprehend as much reading that fast - recognize, also, that I read books trying to see it as a film in my head, so I have to be able to visualize the setting, sounds, sights, etc. Maybe everyone does that and I’ve just got an ADD in reading or something… 😃 Also, some of the stuff I read is older, fiction with turns of phrases not commonly used any longer, or stuff translated from French or Spanish, thus, occasionally resulting in awkward English translations requiring frequent pauses in order to discombobulate exactly what it probably was meant to mean in the original language. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476/27 "2003-10-04T20:21:28Z")
Depends on how good the book is. A good book can go in a couple of days. If I’m not enjoying it, it can take a while. ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476/28 "2003-10-04T21:04:50Z")
It takes me about 1 hour to clear a 100 pages…unless the story is really dense or the language oddly structured (Something Wicked This Way Comes is an example of a book that takes me a lot longer to read b/c of the way it flows) ---
**Author:** ![Govindha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5fc32e/32.png) [@Govindha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Govindha)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2003, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476/29 "2003-10-05T00:39:18Z")
If it’s non-fiction and nothing I need to commit to memory, I can finidsh esily in a days time, or two if I cannot read it straight through. I finished a book by lee child the other day, which was around 400 pages, in around 6 hours or so. I’ve been reading two or three books a week lately. I’m reading a book now called lords of the harvest, which is about “franken foods” and the furture of our food supply. It has a bit of background on the origin of toying with the gene pool and that would be the type of book that would take a bit longer for me. ---
**Author:** ![Crescent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Crescent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescent)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476/30 "2003-10-06T00:28:37Z")
Too fast to afford my reading habit. Like most of the others here, fiction (especially sci-fantasy) I fly through 600 page books in a couple of days (just finished the George R. R. Martin series “A Song of Ice and Fire”), while non-fiction I absorb slower. (Currently reading “In Search Of Ancient Ireland” as bedtime material. ) ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476/31 "2003-10-06T01:08:47Z")
Most of you read a lot faster than I do. Like **JS\_Goddess** , I usually have at least two books and a book on tape going at once, but even if I didn’t, it would still take me about a week to finish a novel. Listening to a book on tape takes me almost exactly the same amount of time to finish as reading one. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > \*\*On the other hand, I’ve been reading Salman Rushdie’s _The Satanic Verses_ for a month now, and am barely two hundred pages into it. \*\* I bought it as a matter of principle way back when it came out and I’m _still_ reading the thing. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476/32 "2003-10-06T02:41:00Z")
I read pretty fast, but like everyone else, the kind of book dictates how fast I can absorb it. I finish the average paperback novel (something perhaps by Janet Evanovich or Nora Roberts) in about two hours. My junk food for the brain, if you will. It took me five hours to read the latest Harry Potter book, but I admit I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention to the individual words/phrases; I was so giddy about it that I HAD to find out what was going to happen FAST. When I took my time to read and enjoy it, it took me about a little more than 7 hours over two evenings. Important stuff takes me longer – non-fiction takes me forever 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476/33 "2003-10-06T03:12:37Z")
I am a relatively slow reader. Some quick math tells me it’d take between 7-10 hours - depending on the difficulty of the book of course. It took me a hhhhhhhell of a lot longer than that to read The Divine Comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476/34 "2003-10-06T04:26:31Z")
I read quickly, per-page wise. Maybe 30-45 seconds per page for the average fiction book. **BUT**. I don’t read as much as I ought to, maybe only an hour a day. If it’s a book I really like, I can sit down and read it in a day or so, but usually I only read in times I specifically set aside for reading, ie the bath, the bus etc., which amounts to about an hour per day, sometimes more, sometimes less. So it takes me anywhere from one day to two or three weeks to finish a book. That is, if I don’t put it off, which I have been known to do with some bricks. And it is always interspersed with reading for school, so I’m not sure how it all works out. ---
**Author:** ![sj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sj2)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476/35 "2003-10-06T05:24:25Z")
3-4 days here ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476/36 "2003-10-06T06:31:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nisosbar \* > I guess I’m stupid, because I would not comprehend as much reading that fast - recognize, also, that I read books trying to see it as a film in my head, so I have to be able to visualize the setting, sounds, sights, etc. Maybe everyone does that and I’ve just got an ADD in reading or something… 😃 This is actually _why_ I read fiction so fast (a little over 100 pages/hour at max). My reading has to keep pace with the images in my head; otherwise it’s like trying to watch a movie over a dial-up connection. My mental movie doesn’t always match the stuff in the book precisely, which is why my speed drops way down when the story involves really subtle elements–my mind introduces filler shots while my eyes read ahead for detail. As a bonus, I can often reread a book and get a very different “movie” out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2003, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476/37 "2003-10-06T07:49:22Z")
I read most of my books within a week, in snatches of time here and there. But I finish them faster depending on the book and urgency. For example, I finished all five of the Harry Potter books in less than five days, both because I couldn’t put them down and a challenge to finish them all by a certain date. _House of Leaves_, on the other hand, has one fifth as many pages as the HP series but it took me nearly a month to finish it because of the vastly different writing style and complexity. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-do-you-read-books-how-long-does-it-take-you-to-read-a-typical-350-page-book/205476.md?page=1)