Median Reading Time
The median story in the catalog is about 9,000 words and takes around 40 minutes to read. That's a good reference for a typical story.
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.
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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 tool estimates how long it will take to read a story based on its word count. It uses a typical reading speed of about 230 words per minute, which is a common benchmark for average readers.
This is an estimate, not a guarantee. Your actual reading time may vary depending on your speed and how closely you read. But it gives you a useful benchmark for planning.
Length Categories
Stories are grouped into short, medium, long, and epic. Most stories here are short, with only a few longer ones.
Time Categories
Reads are labeled quick, steady, immersive, or marathon. Quick reads take under an hour, while marathon reads might take several hours.
Page-Based Progress with the Reading Tracker
The Reading Tracker turns the act of reading a classic science fiction story into a simple page-by-page plan. It records where you are, how far you have to go, and what a realistic daily pace might look like. The tracker does not measure sections, minutes, or chapters as progress; it works only in pages, which keeps the system straightforward and adaptable to whatever edition or reading app you happen to use.
How the Tracker Starts
When you open a book in the tracker, the total page count starts as an estimate. The tool assumes 250 words per page and calculates the initial total as the word count divided by 250, rounded up. For a story like "The Very Secret Agent — A Closer Reading," which contains 8,255 words, that estimate comes to 34 pages. You can keep that number or replace it with the total page count shown by your own reading app or edition, which is useful if you are reading a print anthology with different pagination.
The tracker also asks for a current page and a daily page goal. The default daily goal displayed by the current interface is 20 pages. You can adjust that number to something that fits your schedule, whether you prefer a lighter commitment of five pages or a more intensive push of thirty. Since the tracker stores progress history in your browser's localStorage, no account is required, and your data stays on your device.
Reading Time and Finish Dates
The tracker estimates remaining time in minutes using a simple proportion. It takes the estimated reading minutes from the catalog, multiplies by the remaining pages, and divides by the total pages. For "The Very Secret Agent — A Closer Reading," the catalog estimates 36 minutes for the full text. If you are on page 17 of 34, the remaining time would be roughly 36 × 17 / 34, or about 18 minutes. This is a rough guide, not a promise, because actual reading speed varies with sentence complexity and your own pace.
Finish days are calculated separately. The tracker divides the remaining pages by your daily page goal and rounds up to the nearest whole day. If you have 17 pages left and a goal of 20 pages per day, the tracker would show one day. If you set a goal of 10 pages, it would show two days. This calculation makes it easy to see how a small change in your daily goal affects the projected completion date.
Because the tracker relies on page counts, it works equally well for a short story that fits in one sitting or a longer work that spans several days. A useful approach is that you control the total page count, the current page, and the daily goal, so the tracker adapts to your specific edition and reading habits.
Using the Tracker with Different Books
The tracker is designed for the 96 books in this catalog, most of which are short stories. The median word count is 9,083 words, which at 250 words per page translates to roughly 37 pages. A story like "The Very Secret Agent — A Closer Reading" fits within that range, but you might also encounter longer works. For example, a novella with 30,351 words would have an initial estimate of 122 pages, and a daily goal of 20 pages would suggest a finish in about seven days.
If you are reading a book that has no fixed catalog page count, the tracker's estimate is a helpful starting point. You can update the total page count at any time, and the estimated remaining time and finish days will recalculate automatically. This flexibility means the tracker remains useful For readers who are reading on a phone, a tablet, or a printed page.
Progress Without Overcomplication
The Reading Tracker keeps progress simple: current page, total pages, and daily goal. By focusing on pages, it avoids the ambiguity of sections or minutes and gives you a concrete measure you can update in seconds. For a catalog where most books are short enough to finish in a single evening, the tracker is less about long-term planning and more about maintaining momentum. Whether you read ten pages a day or fifty, the tracker gives you a clear picture of where you stand and what remains.