READING TIME · DANIEL DEFOE · 1719
How long does it take to read Robinson Crusoe?
At an average reading speed, about 7 hours 45 minutes. Robinson Crusoe is 121,029 words long, in 20 chapters.
- WORDS
- 121,029
- CHAPTERS
- 20
- READING LEVEL
- About grade 19 (Flesch–Kincaid)
Reading time at different speeds
| Reader | Speed | Whole book |
|---|---|---|
| Unhurried | 200 words a minute | 10 h 5 min |
| Average adult reader | 260 words a minute | 7 h 45 min |
| Quick reader | 320 words a minute | 6 h 20 min |
To finish it at a steady pace:
- 20 minutes a day: about 24 days
- 30 minutes a day: about 16 days
- 60 minutes a day: about 8 days
How many chapters are in Robinson Crusoe?
Robinson Crusoe has 20 chapters. The longest is Chapter 4: First Weeks on the Island (8,896 words, 34 min); the shortest is Chapter 7: Agricultural Experience (3,911 words, 15 min). The average chapter takes 23 min.
Reading times below are at 260 words a minute.
| Chapter | Words | Reading time | Practice in Parlor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 1: Start in Life | 5,243 | 20 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 2: Slavery and Escape | 5,179 | 20 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 3: Wrecked on a Desert Island | 7,615 | 29 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 4: First Weeks on the Island | 8,896 | 34 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 5: Builds a House—the Journal | 5,441 | 21 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 6: Ill and Conscience-Stricken | 5,663 | 22 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 7: Agricultural Experience | 3,911 | 15 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 8: Surveys His Position | 4,364 | 17 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 9: A Boat | 6,988 | 27 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 10: Tames Goats | 4,993 | 19 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 11: Finds Print of Man’s Foot on the Sand | 5,556 | 21 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 12: A Cave Retreat | 7,073 | 27 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 13: Wreck of a Spanish Ship | 5,558 | 21 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 14: A Dream Realised | 6,808 | 26 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 15: Friday’s Education | 6,210 | 24 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 16: Rescue of Prisoners From Cannibals | 7,092 | 27 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 17: Visit of Mutineers | 6,376 | 25 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 18: The Ship Recovered | 6,900 | 27 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 19: Return to England | 6,084 | 23 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 20: Fight Between Friday and a Bear | 5,079 | 20 min | Check it → |
READING IT FOR CLASS?
Knowing how long it takes is one thing. Understanding it is another.
Parlor Study is a reading comprehension companion. Read Robinson Crusoe one chapter at a time, then make sure you understood it.
- Read a chapter. The full Project Gutenberg text, with highlights, notes and read-aloud.
- Explain it in your own words. Challenge me asks about the main idea, what the text suggests without saying, and the turn the chapter hinges on, then checks your answer against the text.
- Talk it through, then come back. Discuss stays within the chapters you have reached, so it won’t give away what comes next, and Revisit brings your ideas back later.
Parlor Study is a web preview for ages 13 and up, available by invitation. Request an invitation. AI feedback can make mistakes; check it against the text.
How these numbers were worked out
Words are counted in Robinson Crusoe, Project Gutenberg eBook #521, the edition Parlor opens, divided into chapters exactly as Parlor shows them. Project Gutenberg’s licence and notes are left out. Other editions may differ slightly.
Reading speeds follow Marc Brysbaert’s review of 190 studies, which found that adults read English silently at about 260 words a minute for fiction and 238 for non-fiction (Journal of Memory and Language, 2019). Older and more difficult books often take longer than their word count suggests.
The reading level is the Flesch–Kincaid grade, worked out from average sentence length (50.4 words) and word length. It measures how long the sentences and words are, not how hard the ideas are.
Similar length
- Pride and Prejudice 7 h 50 min
- Sense and Sensibility 7 h 40 min
- Babbitt 7 h 55 min
- Wuthering Heights 7 h 30 min