Meditations
At your speed≈ 4 hrs
Pages304
Audiobook≈ 6½ hrs
Every reading time on the site updates to your pace. Page counts are an estimate, so treat the hours as a good guide, not a stopwatch.
The complete text runs to 57,347 words, counted word for word. At an average 250 words a minute that is 4 hrs — a day's reading.
Readers on Hardcover rate it 4.19 out of 5, from 804 ratings.
Worth-it score 8.0/10 — Well worth the time. Readers 7.7 (Hardcover's 4.19★ from 804 ratings) + length 0.3 = 8.0. How the score works →
How long does it take to read Meditations?
The complete text of Meditations runs to 57,347 words — about 304 pages in the edition we list. How long that takes depends on how fast you read:
| Your pace | Words per minute | Time to finish |
|---|---|---|
| Slow | 175 | 5½ hrs |
| Average | 250 | 4 hrs |
| Fast | 400 | 2½ hrs |
Counted word for word from the complete public-domain text on Project Gutenberg, so these times don't depend on any one edition's page count. Most adults read between 200 and 300 words a minute — set your own pace and every time on the site adjusts. Prefer to listen? At a typical narration pace of 150 words a minute the audiobook runs about 6½ hrs — an estimate from the word count, since narrators vary.
Common questions
- How long does it take to read Meditations?
- About 4 hrs at an average reading speed of 250 words per minute. The complete text of Meditations runs to 57,347 words — so at a slower 175 wpm it is nearer 5½ hrs, and at 400 wpm closer to 2½ hrs.
- How many pages is Meditations?
- About 304 pages, though editions of a book this old vary a great deal — which is why its reading time comes from the complete text instead: 57,347 words, about 4 hrs of reading at an average pace.
- Is Meditations worth reading?
- We score it 8.0 out of 10 for the time it takes — well worth the time. Readers on Hardcover rate it 4.19 out of 5 from 804 ratings, which counts for 7.7; at about 4 hrs at an average pace it earns +0.3 for being short.
- How long is the Meditations audiobook?
- About 6½ hrs, estimated from the 57,000 words at a typical narration pace of 150 words a minute. Real editions vary by narrator, usually by well under an hour.
From the publisher
Written in Greek by an intellectual Roman emperor without any intention of publication, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius offer a wide range of fascinating spiritual reflections and exercises developed as the leader struggled to understand himself and make sense of the universe.…
Spanning from doubt and despair to conviction and exaltation, they cover such diverse topics as the question of virtue, human rationality, the nature of the gods and the values of leadership. But while the Meditations were composed to provide personal consolation, in developing his beliefs Marcus also created one of the greatest of all works of philosophy: a series of wise and practical aphorisms that have been consulted and admired by statesmen, thinkers and ordinary readers for almost two thousand years.
Readers also loved
126 pages · 4.09★ on Hardcover
134 pages · 3.97★ on Hardcover
1276 pages · 4.40★ on Hardcover