ReadingRate · What's new · 2026-11-11
Follow a reading list from easiest to hardest
ReadingRate now has reading lists: a subject or an author laid out as a climb, with every book placed by its measured difficulty so you start with the one you can finish and work up. Each book shows its difficulty out of 100 and the hours it takes at your pace. You can tick the ones you've read, put any book on Want to read, and save the whole list to your shelf in order. Nine lists are live, and browsing them needs no account.
Available on web.
The nine lists are Philosophy for beginners, Where to start with Nietzsche, Greek mythology for beginners, Dostoevsky reading order, Physics for beginners, Classics for beginners, Books to get back into reading, Economics for beginners and Psychology for beginners.
A list page draws the books as stars, higher meaning harder. Point at a star, or tap it on a phone, and its card opens with the difficulty and the hours. Below the sky the same books run in order, grouped by difficulty band.
The hours are yours to set: tap the figure and choose a slow, average or fast pace — 180, 250 or 350 words a minute. A tick on "I've read it" lights the row. Without an account the ticks are kept in your browser; with one, the book goes onto your shelf as read, the books you've read are joined by a gold line to the next one, and the page offers that book as the next step.
Where ReadingRate holds a book's text, the row says Read free and opens it in the reader.
What it can't do
- This is on the website. The iPhone version is built but is not in the App Store release that is live today.
- There are nine lists, and they are written by ReadingRate. You cannot build or publish your own yet.
- Ticks made without an account live in that one browser and are gone if its storage is cleared.
- The pace is one of three presets you pick by hand. The reading speed test does not set it for you.
- Want to read, saving your progress and Read free all need a free account.
- The order is by measured difficulty. A book that is easy to read can still assume you know the one after it.
Questions people ask
- In what order should I read Dostoevsky?
- ReadingRate has a Dostoevsky reading order that runs from his most approachable book to his hardest, each with a difficulty score and the hours it takes at your pace. The page is public and needs no account.
- Do I need an account to use a reading list?
- No. You can browse a list, open each book's card, change the pace and tick what you've read without one; the ticks stay in your browser. A free account saves them to your shelf and adds Want to read.