How long does it take to read Born a Crime?
Trevor Noah
At an average reading speed of 250 words a minute, Born a Crime takes 5 hours 25 minutes to read. The unabridged audiobook runs 8h 44m at 1x, or 5h 49m at 1.5x.
Trevor Noah's memoir of growing up in South Africa under apartheid is told in eighteen stories, so it's easy to read one at a time. The whole book is about five and a half hours at an average pace.
Average is about 250 WPM. Measure yours in two minutes and every time on this page recalculates.
How much to read a day
At 250 words a minute, to finish the book:
Have a deadline in mind? The pages-per-day calculator works it out for any date.
How we measured it
Method: audiobook estimate. Estimated from the original 2016 unabridged audiobook read by Trevor Noah (8:44, as Libro.fm and Apple Books list it) at 155 words a minute. A 2026 re-release runs 9:30 and appears to add material, so it isn't used here.
Part of our study of the 100 most popular books, last checked November 2026. Reading times assume steady reading; editions, translations and your own pace all move them.
See how long it really takes you
Log it in Parch as you read. It tracks your pages, sessions and streak, so you'll know your real pace, and how long the next one will take.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to read Born a Crime?
About 5h 25m at an average reading speed of 250 words a minute: 6h 46m at 200 and 4h 31m at 300.
How many words are in Born a Crime?
About 81,220 words. That's estimated from the unabridged audiobook at a narration pace of 155 words a minute, so treat it as close, not exact.
How many pages a day to finish Born a Crime in a month?
About 10 pages a day, or 11m of reading a day at an average pace. That assumes about 295 pages at 275 words a page; real page counts vary by edition.
Can you read Born a Crime in a day?
Yes. It's about 5 hours 25 minutes at 250 words a minute, and about 4 and a half hours at 300.
How long is the Born a Crime audiobook?
8 hours 44 minutes for the original recording, read by Trevor Noah. A 2026 re-release runs 9 hours 30 minutes.