READING TIME · ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE · 1890
How long does it take to read The Sign of the Four?
At an average reading speed, about 2 hours 45 minutes. The Sign of the Four is 43,206 words long, in 12 chapters.
- WORDS
- 43,206
- CHAPTERS
- 12
- READING LEVEL
- About grade 6 (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 Sign of the Four?
The Sign of the Four has 12 chapters. The longest is Chapter 12 (10,404 words, 40 min); the shortest is Chapter 3 (1,735 words, 7 min). The average chapter takes 14 min.
Reading times below are at 260 words a minute.
| Chapter | Words | Reading time | Practice in Parlor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 1 | 2,943 | 11 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 2 | 1,842 | 7 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 3 | 1,735 | 7 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 4 | 3,842 | 15 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 5 | 2,618 | 10 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 6 | 3,129 | 12 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 7 | 4,175 | 16 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 8 | 3,345 | 13 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 9 | 3,627 | 14 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 10 | 3,350 | 13 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 11 | 2,196 | 8 min | Check it → |
| Chapter 12 | 10,404 | 40 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 Sign of the Four 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 Sign of the Four, Project Gutenberg eBook #2097, 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 (14.3 words) and word length. It measures how long the sentences and words are, not how hard the ideas are.
Similar length
- The Island of Doctor Moreau 2 h 45 min
- The Thirty-Nine Steps 2 h 35 min
- The Red Badge of Courage 3 h
- The Turn of the Screw 2 h 35 min
Also by Arthur Conan Doyle
- The Hound of the Baskervilles 3 h 50 min
- A Study in Scarlet 2 h 45 min
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 6 h 45 min