READING TIME · H. G. WELLS · 1896
How long does it take to read The Island of Doctor Moreau?
At an average reading speed, about 2 hours 45 minutes. The Island of Doctor Moreau is 43,171 words long, in 22 chapters.
- WORDS
- 43,171
- CHAPTERS
- 22
- READING LEVEL
- About grade 7 (Flesch–Kincaid)
Reading time at different speeds
| Reader | Speed | Whole book |
|---|---|---|
| Unhurried | 200 words a minute | 3 h 35 min |
| Average adult reader | 260 words a minute | 2 h 45 min |
| Quick reader | 320 words a minute | 2 h 15 min |
To finish it at a steady pace:
- 20 minutes a day: about 9 days
- 30 minutes a day: about 6 days
- 60 minutes a day: about 3 days
How many chapters are in The Island of Doctor Moreau?
The Island of Doctor Moreau has 22 chapters. The longest is XXI. The Reversion of the Beast Folk (4,163 words, 16 min); the shortest is VIII. The Crying of the Puma (970 words, 4 min). The average chapter takes 8 min.
Reading times below are at 260 words a minute.
| Chapter | Words | Reading time | Practice in Parlor |
|---|---|---|---|
| I. In the Dingey of the “Lady Vain.” | 1,037 | 4 min | Check it → |
| II. The Man Who Was Going Nowhere | 1,020 | 4 min | Check it → |
| III. The Strange Face | 1,682 | 6 min | Check it → |
| IV. At the Schooner’s Rail | 1,124 | 4 min | Check it → |
| V. The Man Who Had Nowhere to Go | 1,286 | 5 min | Check it → |
| VI. The Evil-Looking Boatmen | 1,705 | 7 min | Check it → |
| VII. The Locked Door | 1,587 | 6 min | Check it → |
| VIII. The Crying of the Puma | 970 | 4 min | Check it → |
| IX. The Thing in the Forest | 3,343 | 13 min | Check it → |
| X. The Crying of the Man | 1,193 | 5 min | Check it → |
| XI. The Hunting of the Man | 1,863 | 7 min | Check it → |
| XII. The Sayers of the Law | 2,730 | 11 min | Check it → |
| XIII. A Parley | 1,447 | 6 min | Check it → |
| XIV. Doctor Moreau Explains | 3,874 | 15 min | Check it → |
| XV. Concerning the Beast Folk | 1,799 | 7 min | Check it → |
| XVI. How the Beast Folk Taste Blood | 4,075 | 16 min | Check it → |
| XVII. A Catastrophe | 1,645 | 6 min | Check it → |
| XVIII. The Finding of Moreau | 1,227 | 5 min | Check it → |
| XIX. Montgomery’s “Bank Holiday.” | 2,499 | 10 min | Check it → |
| XX. Alone with the Beast Folk | 1,742 | 7 min | Check it → |
| XXI. The Reversion of the Beast Folk | 4,163 | 16 min | Check it → |
| XXII. The Man Alone | 1,160 | 4 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 The Island of Doctor Moreau 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 The Island of Doctor Moreau, Project Gutenberg eBook #159, 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 (15.1 words) and word length. It measures how long the sentences and words are, not how hard the ideas are.
Similar length
- The Sign of the Four 2 h 45 min
- A Study in Scarlet 2 h 45 min
- The Thirty-Nine Steps 2 h 35 min
- The Red Badge of Courage 3 h
Also by H. G. Wells
- The War of the Worlds 3 h 50 min
- The Invisible Man 3 h 5 min