Quick Reads
Books that can be read in under 2 hours. These are often shorter works, like speeches or essays. For example, 'Address of President Roosevelt' is about 4,800 words and takes about 21 minutes to read.
Reading Tracker
Choose a book, record where you are, and set a daily goal. Your progress is stored in localStorage in this browser; it is not uploaded to a user account.
No sign-up required
Stored in your browser
Estimated time remaining
Choose a book
If the EPUB has no fixed print pagination, the tool starts with an estimated page count and lets you replace it with the page total shown by your own reader.
Reading progress
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Remaining
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Estimated time left
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At your daily goal
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Stored locally
Reading history
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How the progress estimate works
The Reading Time Estimator helps you plan how long it will take to read a book from this catalog. It uses the book's word count and your reading speed to calculate an estimated reading time. You can also see the book's classification into one of four pace categories: quick, steady, immersive, or marathon.
These classifications are based on the median word count of the catalog (about 63,500 words) and the median reading time (about 276 minutes). Books below the median might be quicker reads, while those above will take longer. Use this information to choose a book that fits your schedule and reading habits.
Steady Reads
Books that take between 2 and 4 hours to read. They are moderate in length, offering a satisfying but not overly time-consuming experience. 'My Garden Acquaintance' is a good example at about 10,700 words.
Immersive Reads
Books that take between 4 and 8 hours. These are substantial works that require a deeper commitment. 'Miscellaneous Studies' is about 63,800 words, taking roughly 278 minutes.
Marathon Reads
Books that take more than 8 hours to read. These are long, epic volumes, such as 'The Letters of S. Ambrose' with over 213,000 words and an estimated reading time of about 929 minutes.
Making Progress, One Page at a Time
The Reading Tracker is built around a simple premise: progress is recorded in pages. You set a current page, a total page count, and a daily page goal, and the tracker estimates when you will finish. It does not track minutes or sections; it tracks pages. This keeps the focus on a concrete, manageable unit of reading.
For books in the public domain catalog, the initial page estimate is calculated by dividing the word count by 250, the configured words per page. If your own edition has a different page count, you can replace the estimate with the exact number from your reading app or printed book. This flexibility means the tracker works with any edition you own.
Setting a Realistic Daily Goal
The default daily goal displayed by the interface is 20 pages. That is a reasonable starting point for many readers, but you can adjust it to fit your schedule. If you have only fifteen minutes a day, you might set a lower goal; if you are on vacation, you might set a higher one. The tracker does not judge your goal; it simply calculates the finish date based on what you enter.
For example, consider Letters and social aims — Reading Companion (id 301) by Ralph Waldo Emerson. With 72,649 words, the initial page estimate is ceil(72649 / 250) = 291 pages. If you set a daily goal of 20 pages, the tracker estimates you will finish in ceil(291 / 20) = 15 days. If you increase the goal to 30 pages, you finish in 10 days. The math is straightforward, and the tracker does it for you.
Adjusting for Your Edition
The estimated page count based on 250 words per page is a useful approximation, but it may not match the pagination of your specific edition. A paperback with wide margins and large type might have fewer words per page, while a dense ebook might have more. The Reading Tracker allows you to replace the total page count with the number shown in your own reading app or printed copy. This ensures that the remaining time and finish date are accurate for your situation.
Suppose you are reading Letters and social aims in an edition that has 350 pages instead of the estimated 291. If you are on page 100, the tracker will calculate remaining pages as 250, and with a daily goal of 20, you will finish in 13 days. If you had kept the estimate, you would have thought you had only 191 pages left, finishing in 10 days. The adjustment matters for planning.
Tracking Across Sessions
The Reading Tracker stores your progress history in your browser's localStorage, so you do not need an account. This means your data stays on your device, and you can update your current page whenever you finish a session. The tracker does not require you to log minutes or sections; you simply update the page number, and the estimates recalculate.
For a long book like Letters and social aims, which has 14 text sections, the page-based approach works well. You might not finish a section in one sitting, but you can always note the page you reached. The tracker's estimated remaining time is proportional: estimated_minutes × remaining_pages / total_pages. So if you have read 100 of 291 pages, the remaining time is roughly 316 × 191 / 291, or about 207 minutes. This gives you a sense of the time commitment ahead, without requiring you to track every minute spent reading.