« My reading speed

I came up with a formula for my reading speed long time back in school, and thought I would share it here. Conventionally reading speed is defined in words per minute but I don’t see how that is of any consequence. How can you know before hand the number of words in a tome and come up with how much time you’re going to finish it in? This formula does just that.

Its like this:

Time taken to read in minutes = [(No. of pages)/3] + 30*(Difficulty level+C)

The variable “Difficulty level” varies on a scale of minus 3 to 10.

The constant C depends on how experienced the reader is. C varies from 1 to infinity.

The Difficulty level scale.

-3 = The kind of books that have zero plot and seem to go on forever in the details the description of a countryside, a room, a character… (e.g. Lord of the rings series – J.R.R. Tolkein) I’d rather rip myself apart and count my 860 million nerve endings.

-2 = The kind of books that are too predictable in plot, use hackneyed and clichéd characters and have a simple storyline that the author, try as he may, failed to disguise. (e.g The three mistakes of my life by Chetan Bhagat)

-1 = The kinds where the reader feels that the book has been there done that. The kinds where the author(s) have no new concepts or maybe the reader already knows a lot about the book and is reading it as a formality. The reasons are different but the feeling is the same.

0 = The casual kinda novels (e.g. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho)

1 = Mostly Fiction, fast paced novels (e.g. The Prometheus Deception by Robert Ludlum)

2 = Novels written in simple language but thought provoking (e.g. Anthem by Ayn Rand)

3 = Novels provoking much thought (or having hidden meanings) (e.g. Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse)

4 = Mostly Classics simplified and edited (Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte)

5 = Novels written in a way that they are meant to be read (those where you don’t get the feel of the novel while reading an abridged or simplified version) (e.g. anything written by Edgar Allan Poe)

6 = Novels which you have to read twice to understand anyway, and still don’t make any sense of them. (e.g. Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse)

7 = Books that you peruse to remember information from (e.g. A science journal or a favourite philosopher)

8 = Books that are too complicated to follow without being high on five doses of absinthe (e.g. Tristam Shandy) and for those who managed to get through all the nine volumes, join the kooky club.

9 = Books that are simply too boring (e.g. surprise, surprise… The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, the reason why I find it boring is that it is simply a distillation of the great works of other people. And Robin Sharma goes ahead so as to mention the sources of his, ahem, inspiration in the book. Siddhartha by Hesse, is one)

10 = This is that wild category which includes books that you never wanted to read anyways. You just picked it up coz your friend suggested it, he/she liked it, and you are more or less obligated to finish it and offer your humble opinion. They just seem to drag on forever. The reasons might be varied but the feeling is the same.

The experience constant C.

1 = You are immortal. As are your books. You are the unchallenged Kratos. You remember plots, characters, authors and entire volumes of books like the back of your palm. You know what you read. You know what to read. You judge a book by its cover and are always right about it. Hats off to you.

2 = You are a book God. You can read a book cover to cover and remember the entire thing for the rest of your life. You can make a blockbuster out of a book just by reading it once. You have a zeal to be the best and are unchallenged most of the time. Unless one-in-a-million Kratos comes along your way.

3 = You are a veteran reader. You have read more books than the average human and are proud of it. You are the kind of person people look forward to input their tastes and expect you to output the kind of books they should read. Good going.

4-5 = You are a good reader. A bookworm. You prefer the company of books and can’t stop once you start a good one. A book well read for you is time well spent.

5-15 = You are an average reader, and aspire to read more and more and expand. You can spend an entire night reading and enjoy it. However, if your friend asks you out for a movie, you opt for the movie instead.

15-25 = You are a novice. You aspire to read more and more, but reading is just a priority. You want to start reading some good stuff but don’t have the will/time/attitude to do so. You fall into the category of most of the people who are still deciding to decipher whether reading should be listed under “hobbies” in the resume or not.

More than 25 = You loathe books. You hate the sight of them. They give you nightmares. And if the Bible were written and printed in your local press here and now, rather than thousands of years ago, you couldn’t care less.

Meaning?

I know it’s a lot of mumbo-jumbo without any examples. So here goes.

The Fountainhead has 720 pages. I consider myself 10 on the experience scale and I see the Fountainhead as a 2. So by formula calculations:

Time it should take me to read the Fountainhead

= [720/3] + 30*(2+3) = 6 hours 30 minutes. And I swear by whatever you believe in, I finished it in 6 hours, 15 minutes! The reason was that I had an exam the next day.

Another example:

One Night at a Call Center: 320 pages. Difficulty Scale = -3. So:

Time it should take me to read One Night at a Call Center

= [320/3] + 6*(-3+3) = 1 hour 46 minutes. Very very close again !

The subjective nature of the scales:

The Difficulty scale and the experience scale are of course, a matter of subjective knowledge. You can use your own scales or follow mine.

Another use.

While writing this post I thought that the reader could actually judge his/her own acumen if we reverse the formula. e.g. If someone took 10 hours to read the Fountainhead, what kind of a reader is the person?

Hmmm. Let’s see. To do this first the reader has to fix up the position of the book in the difficulty scale. Assuming that we are following my difficulty scale, lets say the reader places the Fountainhead at a 5. Ten hours is 600 minutes. So we just have to calculate C from the equation:

600 = [720/3]+30*(5+C)

C = (360/30) – 5 = 7. So, referring to the C Scale the reader is an average reader.

But again, you might ask, one might find a book so boring. Won’t that affect the readers’ standing? Let’s see.

If someone finds the Fountainhead a very boring book, he/she rates the book at a -3 on the difficulty scale. Now how do we read a boring book? We skip a few passages, we read the endings first and overall it takes us less time to finish a boring tome than an interesting thriller. So, despite finding the Fountainhead boring, our reader manages to finish it within 6 hours.

So,

360 = [720/3]+30*(-3+C) or C = 7! So our reader just can’t escape the fact that he/she is an average reader.

Ok, one more objection. Let’s say that a book has a 120 pages and our reader places it at a 0 and finishes it in 10 minutes. You heard it, 10 minutes. What happens to the equation?

10 = [120/3]+30*(0+C) or C = -1 !!. This proves that our reader is a liar. He/she could not have rated a 120 page book as casual read and finished it in 10 minutes.

If the formula seems too intimidating at a glance, let me help you out:

Divide the number of pages in the book by 3. (e.g. 720/3 = 240)
Subtract the above result from the time in minutes it took you to read it. (600-240=360)
Divide the above result by 30. (360/30 = 12)
Subtract Difficulty Level. (12-5 = 7)
Look up the result, 7, in the C Scale and there you have it. You know what kind of a reader you are!

Feel free to manipulate the formula. I wish I could have a javascript calculator so that the potential visitor could calculate his/her speed as on a calculator. Will look into it. Happy Reading !!