Can you read a novel in three hours?

Speed-reading a Man-Booker-shortlisted novel with help from an app called Spritz was a thrilling ride that left me in agony

Last week, I decided to perform an experiment. At midday precisely, I sat on my couch to see if I could knock off a Man-Booker-shortlisted novel by teatime.

Thats not as easy as it sounds. The book I picked was To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris at 110,000 words or so, its not particularly lengthy, but given that the average adult reader clocks in at between 250 and 300 words per minute (according to a 2012 study), it would still take around six hours to finish. And thats without considering the weighty subject matter: a Manhattan dentist dealing with a crisis of faith after a religious group steals his identity. Clearly, demolishing it by three or four oclock was somewhat ambitious.