Quick Reads
About 98 stories can be read in under an hour. For example, 'Alien Equivalent' is about 6,200 words, a 27-minute read. Perfect for a lunch break.
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 tool gives you an estimate of how long each story will take to read, based on its word count. The median reading time across the archive is 43 minutes, but individual times vary from about 27 minutes to over an hour.
All 99 books are classified as short (under 20,000 words), and 98 are considered quick reads (under 60 minutes). Only one is rated 'steady'. Use this tool to plan your reading sessions.
Longer Stories
A few stories exceed 60 minutes. 'Colony of the Unfit' is over 16,000 words, taking around 74 minutes. Set aside more time for these.
How Estimates Work
Reading time is calculated at a typical pace of about 230 words per minute. Your actual speed may vary, so treat these as rough guides.
Pacing Yourself: Using the Reading Tracker
The Reading Tracker is a simple tool for managing your progress through a story. It records your current page, total pages, and a daily page goal. Since the archive does not always include a fixed page count, the tracker estimates the total as word count divided by 250 words per page. You can adjust that estimate if your own reading app or edition shows a different number.
For example, "Invader From Infinity — A Reader’s Guide" (id 299) is 6,809 words. At 250 words per page, that is about 28 pages. If you set a daily goal of 20 pages, you could finish it in two days. The tracker would show that you have about 8 pages left after the first day, and it would estimate your finish date accordingly.
Setting a Daily Goal
The default daily goal is 20 pages, but you can change it to match your schedule. A higher goal means fewer days to finish; a lower goal spreads the reading out. The tracker uses your goal to calculate estimated finish days: it divides the remaining pages by the daily goal and rounds up. If you have 28 pages and a goal of 20, it will say 2 days. If you set the goal to 10, it will say 3 days.
The tracker also estimates remaining time in minutes, using the story's estimated reading time. For "Invader From Infinity," the estimated reading time is 30 minutes. If you have read 14 pages out of 28, the remaining time would be about 15 minutes. This is a rough guide, but it helps you plan when to read.
Adjusting the Total Page Count
The initial page estimate is based on 250 words per page, but that may not match your edition. If you are reading on a device with a different font size or layout, the page count could be higher or lower. The tracker lets you replace the total page count with the number shown by your own reading app or edition. This makes the progress tracking more accurate.
For a story like "The Jewel of Bas — Key Ideas to Explore" (id 295), which is 21,299 words, the estimate is about 86 pages. If your edition shows 100 pages, you can update the total to 100. The tracker will then use that number for all calculations, so your remaining time and finish days will be based on your actual reading experience.
Using the Tracker Across Multiple Sittings
Even though most stories in the archive are short enough to finish in one sitting, you might choose to read over several days. The tracker helps you keep your place. It stores your progress in your browser's local storage, so you do not need an account. When you return, you can see exactly where you left off and how many pages remain.
The tracker does not record sections or minutes as progress; it only uses pages. That means you need to update it after each reading session, which is a simple habit. After working through these points of a story, you will have a record of how many days it took and how your daily goal worked out. This can inform your choices for the next story.