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Read a 226-word passage at your normal pace, the way you would read a book, not a skim. Press start, read it once, then press done.

The first public libraries in many towns were not buildings at all. They were a single shelf in a shop, a trunk of books that travelled from village to village, or a cupboard in a church hall that opened on Saturday mornings. People borrowed a book, kept it for a week or two and brought it back, often with a note tucked inside for the next reader. Some of those notes were practical, pointing out a missing page or a recipe that did not work. Others were small reviews, written in pencil on the inside cover, arguing with the author or with the reader before. Over time the shelves grew into rooms and the rooms into buildings with tall windows and long tables. The habit at the centre stayed the same. A person chose something to read, sat with it for a while and carried it home. Reading speed never mattered much in those rooms. A slow reader who finished a book and remembered it got more from the loan than a fast reader who skimmed and forgot. Still, it helps to know your pace when you plan. If you know how many words you read in a minute, you can tell whether a report will take ten minutes or an hour, and whether the novel on your nightstand will last a week or a month.