Books by level / Spanish books
El árbol de la ciencia: reading level, length and free edition
El árbol de la ciencia by Pío Baroja is a novel in Spanish. Our team rates it B2. It runs to 63,334 words with 9,074 different word forms, about 5.5–11 h of reading at 200 to 100 words per minute, and it is free from Project Gutenberg.
- Author
- Pío Baroja
- Language
- Spanish
- Level
- B2
- Form
- novel
- Words
- 63,334
- Different word forms
- 9,074
- Forms for 95% / 98%
- 5,908 / 7,808
- Reading time
- 5.5–11 h
- Free edition
- Project Gutenberg
Desencanto existencial de un joven médico en la España de fin de siglo.
Is El árbol de la ciencia right for your level?
To recognise 95% of the running words in El árbol de la ciencia, you need its 5,908 most frequent word forms; for 98%, the share at which most readers manage a novel without a dictionary, 7,808. The median Spanish B2 book in our table needs 7,656 forms for 95%, so by this measure the book is easier than most for its level: number 4 of 10, easiest first.
A word form is any spelling that appears in the text, so “walk” and “walked” count twice, and names count too. These numbers are a guide to how much vocabulary the book asks for, not a test. The level itself was set by hand by our team. Before you commit, read one page of the free edition and count the words you do not know: the one-page test takes two minutes.
Which words should you know before you start?
These are the words that El árbol de la ciencia uses most often but that are not among the 2,000 most common word forms across all 36 Spanish books in our library; the number is how many times each appears. Names of people and places are left out. Learning a handful of them first makes the opening chapters easier.
- hospital 36
- estudiantes 27
- tipo 27
- profesor 22
- tendencia 19
- vecindad 19
- curso 18
- alumnos 16
- absurdo 16
- muchachas 16
- acercó 16
- preguntaba 16
- azotea 16
- mayoría 14
- replicaba 14
How does it begin?
Nota del Transcriptor: Se ha respetado la ortografía y la acentuación del original. Errores obvios de imprenta han sido corregidos. Páginas en blanco han sido eliminadas. La portada fue diseñada por el transcriptor y se considera dominio público.
From the Project Gutenberg edition, which is in the public domain. If this paragraph already feels slow, try a book one level lower.
How long does it take to read?
| Words | 100 wpm | 150 wpm | 200 wpm | 250 wpm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 63,334 | 11 h | 7 h | 5.5 h | 4 h |
Learners reading a book at their level often manage 100 to 150 words per minute, and readers in their first language 200 to 250. Where these speeds come from, and a calculator for your own: How long does it take to read a book?
Where can you read it for free?
The free edition is Project Gutenberg eBook #60464. Project Gutenberg publishes books that are in the public domain in the United States, as EPUB, Kindle and plain text, free and without an account. Copyright terms differ by country: if you live outside the United States, check that the book is out of copyright where you are before you download it.
To read it with a translation over every word you tap, open it in Readlang Mobile on iPhone or iPad.
What to read next at B2
Spanish books at the same level that ask for a similar amount of vocabulary:
- Pepita Jiménez, Juan Valera: 56,657 words, 6,606 forms for 95%
- Niebla (Nivola), Miguel de Unamuno: 57,384 words, 4,706 forms for 95%
- Abel Sánchez: Una historia de pasión, Miguel de Unamuno: 29,562 words, 3,202 forms for 95%
- Mare nostrum, Vicente Blasco Ibáñez: 144,898 words, 10,270 forms for 95%
- Los pazos de Ulloa, Emilia Pardo Bazán: 83,819 words, 10,840 forms for 95%
- Doña Perfecta, Benito Pérez Galdós: 113,704 words, 15,160 forms for 95%
See also all Spanish books by level and books at B2 in all five languages.