---
title: "How long to read The Hobbit? about 6 hours 39 minutes"
description: "The Hobbit takes about 6 hours 39 minutes — about 95,000 words. What that assumes, how it breaks down, and how long at a realistic pace."
url: https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/the-hobbit/
site: "At One Place"
---

# How long does it take to read The Hobbit?

**How long to read The Hobbit: about 6 hours 39 minutes**

about 95,000 words

The Hobbit is about 95,000 words and takes under seven hours to read — a single day. Peter Jackson's film adaptation runs 474 minutes in the extended editions, meaning the films take nearly twenty minutes of screen time per thousand words of book. For comparison, the Lord of the Rings extended films manage about ninety seconds per thousand words. That ratio is the clearest possible statement of what stretching one short children's book into three feature films involved.

## The numbers

- **Total:** 6 hours 39 minutes
- **In hours:** 6.7 hours
- **Non-stop:** 0.3 days without sleeping
- **Covers:** about 95,000 words
- **At a realistic pace:** an hour a night
- **That works out as:** about 7 days
- **As an audiobook:** 11 hours 8 minutes

## What this assumes

About 95,000 words at 238 words per minute. Editions differ slightly.

## Other books

| What | How long |
| --- | --- |
| Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | about 5 hours 23 minutes |
| Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | about 18 hours |
| The Bible | about 55 hours |
| War and Peace | about 40 hours |
| Infinite Jest | about 40 hours |
| Moby-Dick | about 15 hours |
| Ulysses | about 19 hours |
| Dune | about 13 hours |
| Pride and Prejudice | about 8 hours 33 minutes |
| Nineteen Eighty-Four | about 6 hours 14 minutes |
| The Great Gatsby | about 3 hours 18 minutes |
| Animal Farm | about 2 hours 6 minutes |
| It | about 31 hours |
| The complete works of Shakespeare | about 59 hours |
| The complete Sherlock Holmes | about 72 hours as an audiobook |
| All of English Wikipedia | about 41 years |

## Common questions

### How long does it take to read The Hobbit?

about 6 hours 39 minutes — about 95,000 words.

### What does that assume?

About 95,000 words at 238 words per minute. Editions differ slightly.

### How long at a realistic pace?

an hour a night — about 7 days.

## Related pages

- [How long to read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/harry-potter-philosophers-stone/)
- [How long to read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/harry-potter-order-of-the-phoenix/)
- [How long to read the Bible?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/the-bible/)
- [How long to read War and Peace?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/war-and-peace/)
- [How long to read Infinite Jest?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/infinite-jest/)
- [How long to read Moby-Dick?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/moby-dick/)
- [How long to read Ulysses?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/ulysses/)
- [How long to read Dune?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/dune/)
- [How long to read the Harry Potter series?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/harry-potter-series/)
- [How long to watch Friends?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/friends/)
- [How long to watch One Piece?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/one-piece/)
- [How long to watch The Simpsons?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/the-simpsons/)
- [How long to watch The Office (US)?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/the-office-us/)
- [How long to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe?](https://atoneplace.net/how-long-to/marvel-cinematic-universe/)

## Sources

- Calculated on this page — At One Place (/about/)