How does the estimated time to read work?

[ownedbycats]

By this, I'm not referring to the "5-6 hours to read" that shows up in book details, but the "6 hours to go" that appears when a kepub is on the home page.

Is it individual for each book? I've seen instances of, say, "30 minutes to go" on a book, but then when I read a bit more and go back to the home page it's suddenly "2 hours to go."

Then I've seen individual books get glitchy short times (this happens mostly when I use Kobo's desktop app to load the books onto the device).

What exactly is happening?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

By this, I'm not referring to the "5-6 hours to read" that shows up in book details, but the "6 hours to go" that appears when a kepub is on the home page.

Is it individual for each book? I've seen instances of, say, "30 minutes to go" on a book, but then when I read a bit more and go back to the home page it's suddenly "2 hours to go."

Then I've seen individual books get glitchy short times (this happens mostly when I use Kobo's desktop app to load the books onto the device).

What exactly is happening?

I've never had an accurate time left with KePub or ePub. With ePub, (not tired it on 4.32) I used to get 1 minute for each page and that never changed no matter how fast or slow I read.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Is it individual for each book? I've seen instances of, say, "30 minutes to go" on a book, but then when I read a bit more and go back to the home page it's suddenly "2 hours to go."

Yes, it’s individual for each book and it’s dynamic as well; it adjusts as you read. If while you’re reading, you click on the bar graph at the top left, you get estimates for time left in chapter, time for the next chapter, and time left in book.

I read a lot of non-fiction and kepub is better for that; however, since time left in book also includes index and notes and bibliography, it’s not terribly useful. I can click on the beginning of the back matter and see time left at that point and then subtract, but it’s not worth the bother.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

By this, I'm not referring to the "5-6 hours to read" that shows up in book details, but the "6 hours to go" that appears when a kepub is on the home page.

Is it individual for each book? I've seen instances of, say, "30 minutes to go" on a book, but then when I read a bit more and go back to the home page it's suddenly "2 hours to go."

Then I've seen individual books get glitchy short times (this happens mostly when I use Kobo's desktop app to load the books onto the device).

What exactly is happening?

For me, the time left is rather useless. I've read too many books where I've read, say, 50% in 48 minutes and get told it will take me 3 hours to finish the book. Admittedly, a couple of time, I've read 50% in 48 minutes and get told it will take 20 minutes to finish the book but in the three cases where I took notes when that happened, checking the book with epubcheck threw multiple errors. After correcting those, the behaviour reverted to the finishing the last half of the book will take a lot longer than reading the first half.

[BookCat]

In the Activity part of More, accessed from the Home page, my Libra 2 says that I read an average of 8 minutes per session. In fact I read for about 40 minutes per session.

How is this being calculated?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by BookCat

In the Activity part of More, accessed from the Home page, my Libra 2 says that I read an average of 8 minutes per session. In fact I read for about 40 minutes per session.

How is this being calculated?

Very poorly.

[Cyclops]

I don't see this on my kobo, and I would have to disregard it anyway. There are occasions when I will backtrack to earlier pages if something didn't quite make sense, or if an unfamiliar word pops up I'll use the built in dictionary (or google on my phone)

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by BookCat

In the Activity part of More, accessed from the Home page, my Libra 2 says that I read an average of 8 minutes per session. In fact I read for about 40 minutes per session.

How is this being calculated?

It's been a while since I looked at this, but, from memory, a session isn't just start reading and continue to the end. It will be stopped when you put the device to sleep. So, if you close the cover for a few moments because the cat was reminding you of your place in the household, the device will count that as two sessions.

Unfortunately, other things seem to start and end a session. One of them is using the ToC to navigate to another section of the book. It's been a while since I tried this, but, I just opened a new book and left it for a while and closed it to look at the stats. That showed the time per session and the reading time as the same. I opened the book and uses the ToC to move around it several times. It might have been open for a minute. When I looked at the stats, it was 1 minute per session and hardly any change to the total time.

There are probably other things triggering the end of a session. The ToC was one I remembered. I don't remember if using the navigation bar does or not. It wouldn't surprise me if a search or using an annotation to get to another part of the book would do it as well.

[BookCat]

Originally Posted by davidfor

It's been a while since I looked at this, but, from memory, a session isn't just start reading and continue to the end. It will be stopped when you put the device to sleep. So, if you close the cover for a few moments because the cat was reminding you of your place in the household, the device will count that as two sessions.

Unfortunately, other things seem to start and end a session. One of them is using the ToC to navigate to another section of the book. It's been a while since I tried this, but, I just opened a new book and left it for a while and closed it to look at the stats. That showed the time per session and the reading time as the same. I opened the book and uses the ToC to move around it several times. It might have been open for a minute. When I looked at the stats, it was 1 minute per session and hardly any change to the total time.

There are probably other things triggering the end of a session. The ToC was one I remembered. I don't remember if using the navigation bar does or not. It wouldn't surprise me if a search or using an annotation to get to another part of the book would do it as well.

The cat etc generally doesn't disturb me while reading - if she sits on my lap, I just carry on reading while she purrs - but I do things like highlighting quite a lot, also searches in book for names etc. The Kobo is always fully on and I'm actively using it, regularly turning pages as I read. I know how long my reading sessions are by the time showing on the 'ambient' video (birdsong, rain, etc) playing in the background.

However, when considering the next book, lots of flipping about between collections, reading the details or first paragraphs to see what takes my fancy, is done. This might affect the timing?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by BookCat

The cat etc generally doesn't disturb me while reading - if she sits on my lap, I just carry on reading while she purrs

It's the initial sitting. They want some attention. One of my cats well push at my laptop when she decides my lap should be occupied by her.

but I do things like highlighting quite a lot, also searches in book for names etc. The Kobo is always fully on and I'm actively using it, regularly turning pages as I read. I know how long my reading sessions are by the time showing on the 'ambient' video (birdsong, rain, etc) playing in the background.

However, when considering the next book, lots of flipping about between collections, reading the details or first paragraphs to see what takes my fancy, is done. This might affect the timing?

What you do outside the book should have no impact on the reading time or sessions. But, as soon as you open it, you have a session. And using the ToC to navigate, appears to start a new session. I don't know exactly what else does. Turning the page doesn't. I don't think turning the page to a new chapter does. But, any of the functions that jump to another section of the book might start a session. And returning to where you were might be another. Without some information for Kobo or doing some experiments, I can't say more than that.

[BookCat]

using the ToC to navigate, appears to start a new session. I don't know exactly what else does. Turning the page doesn't. I don't think turning the page to a new chapter does. But, any of the functions that jump to another section of the book might start a session. And returning to where you were might be another. Without some information for Kobo or doing some experiments, I can't say more than that.

These factors may explain the timing. I do occasionally move around within a book, check the annotations, or occurences of a name. When I first load books (from Calibre) onto the kobo, I'll check how well the conversion looks on the device and often mess around with the font settings. I also look at them to decide in which Collections they belong.