How this calculator works
The calculation converts reading time into words and words into books. Each hour at 250 words a minute is 15,000 words; a 90,000-word book therefore takes 6 hours. Multiply your daily hours by the days at home to get the total reading time, then divide by the hours a book takes and round up, because a partly read book still has to be on the shelf. Comparing that number with the books you already own shows how many more you need to have ready before the stretch begins.
Formula
words a day = minutes a day x 60 x words a minute. books needed = days x words a day / (pages per book x words per page), rounded up. extra books = max(0, books needed - books on hand).
Worked example
Fourteen days at 2 hours a day is 28 hours. At 250 words a minute that is 420,000 words. A 300-page book at 300 words a page is 90,000 words, so you need 5 books. With 2 already at home, you need to find 3 more.
Advertisement
Frequently asked questions
Should I round up or down?
Round up for the books to have ready. Reading 4.2 books means you need a fifth book to open, even if you do not finish it. The pages figure can be rounded down because unfinished pages are not read.
What if I do not read every day?
Use the average. If you read 4 hours on some days and none on others, multiply the average daily hours by the number of days. The total reading time is what matters, not the routine.
Does rereading count?
Rereading fills time in the same way, so it counts as reading material. A familiar book is often a good choice when attention is short, and it still uses the hours the calculator plans for.
Why do the numbers differ from a reading app?
Apps use their own page and word estimates, and they count books rather than hours. This page shows its assumptions, so you can change the words per page or the book length to match the books you actually read.