To use the Great Gatsby as an example...the audio book is under 5 hours long. That is someone reading at a controlled and pretty slow pace. But to that end, reading it in a day would take 5 hours tops. As far as levels of understanding, if I'm looking to read a book for enjoyment, then a book like The Great Gatsby is a 2-2.5 hour read. If I'm looking for graduate level discussion and analysis of it, then it's going to be a longer shot (probably multiple days).
One of my classes when getting my Master in Library Science was a class on Young Adult Literature...I had to read about 2000 pages a week every week for 14 weeks, plus still get assignments done. There were days were I routinely read 800-1000 pages in a day. Did I retain enough that I could dissect the books and tell you the 14 different meanings of the sun rising on the 4th day? No. Did I retain enough to explain the premise, plot, and major themes to a patron and determine if said book is a good fit for their interest/personality? Yes. Like Roger mentioned, what you want to get out of the reading is a big factor.
To make a comparison - I routinely "watch" movies while getting my auction finds listed online (I like the background and it tends to keep me a bit more focused on staying in the room at my seat). I also like to watch movies while doing nothing but watching the movie. Both instances of watching bring me enjoyment/pleasure and both serve there own purpose. One isn't better or worse because I get different things from them, and I'm going to choose certain movies for certain instances (I'm not going to watch a martial arts film with subtitles while trying to research items I'm selling).
Originally Posted by bearbles2
