How Long Does It Take To Read The Book Of Mormon?

For the world's 2.3 billion Christians (per Pew Research Center), the Bible is their sacred text. The collection of 66 books (or 73, depending on whether you're Protestant or Catholic) details the history of God's relationship with his people, and in particular, the teachings of Jesus Christ and his later followers. As a whole, this book informs the faith and doctrine of the world's followers of Christ.

However, for a small subset of Christians — the people who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — there's a second, companion book that is as much a part of their doctrine as the Bible itself: the Book of Mormon. Indeed, as BBC News reports, these Christians believe that the Bible is only accurate insofar as it was translated, but that on the whole, it was translated inaccurately. The Book of Mormon, on the other hand, is believed to be translated accurately.

But what's it like reading the book? Is it a thick and lengthy text that would take a long time to finish?

When it comes to figuring out how long it takes to read any document, it's a simple matter of mathematics. Take the length of the text in words, divide by the number of words a reader can be expected to read in a minute, and express the results in terms of minutes, days, years, etc. Of course, pure mathematics doesn't account for human frailties, such as the need to take a break or reread a portion they didn't understand, but for now, we'll put that aside.

According to Reading Length, the English translation of the Book of Mormon is 270,280 words. Assuming that the average adult — reading in English — can read 250 words per minute, then the Book of Mormon can be knocked out in just about 18 hours if read straight through. Of course, that would be physically impossible for most readers, so if it was undertaken in, say, eight-hour shifts, then the entire book could be completed in a little over three days.