Which one is the longest Dirk Pitt book if the word count is used as the measure? I have not compared English editions, but based on Finnish editions the longest is probably one of these:Treasure, Cyclops, Dragon or Flood Tide. One newer appear to be substantially shorter and e.g. Trojan Odyssey is much shorter than Dragon. Lately the Pitt books have been too short:( Personally I´d hope for a Pitt book as long as Wilbur Smith´s Monsoon (that is at least 100% longer than Trojan Odyssey) or Clancy´s Executive Orders.

I've always thought that Atlantis Found felt heftiest, but it's hard to say really.

I agree that the stories are becoming shorter. Is there a site on the web that shows a word count for books? Perhaps the publisher would have info on that.

Just count the words!! p:

And I assumed this was a forum where this question would get proper answers fast...

Yes, this is a Forum but it is also summer and most people are wrapped up in things off of the computer. I don't know by word count but, the longest Pitt Novel as far as I can see is The Navigator. It has 552 pages. If some one has other information let us know. I can't get up the stairs to often any more. Plese have a little patience as we all get a little off beat at time. w:

Okay, this is just an extimate: at an average of fifteen words per sentence with an average of thirty-two sentences per page works out to over 500 words per page. It works out to 276,000 words. How does that sound to you? I woulld say that I am in the area. Anyone agree? Or do a similar estimation? det:

The problem with using numbers of pages as your measure of story length, is that books throughout the years are printed on different sized pages using different type face and layouts. An original first edition Iceberg is going to have fewer or more words per page than an original first edition Black Wind.

As to the original question, I have no idea how to begin determining actual story length. Might want to check Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed and see if there's mention of anything in there. Does Amazon or any of the other book sites list lenght aside from number of pages? Wikipedia is always good for 70% accurate information. Good luck!

The only way to estimate word count, and it's a rough estimate at best, is to count the number of words on an average line of text--do two or three and you'll see that it's pretty constant. Then count the number of lines per page and multiply the two number. Lastly, multiply by the number of pages.

This is only a best guess because in a dialogue rich story, an entire line might be devoted to only a few words. Additionally, some authors, Cussler included, will have a lot of title pages, map pages, and blank facing pages which further skew the estimate.

Erik's point is certainly valid. Word count is a poor judge of quality, or even of the intrinsic value of a book. I have fallen victim to the notion that, if I'm going to spend $$ on a book, I want it to have some heft, but the truth is that sometimes a story needs to be shorter. Some ideas just don't have the gravity to hold 150,000 words together. There are a lot of stories out there that should have been pared down a bit. Frankly, I've never been able to get through a Wilbur Smith book.

Oh, and Tony, your estimate is way off. I would estimate the average Cussler tome to be no more than 150,000 words, and probably more like 125K.

I have a small bit of irrelevant information. Navigator was Austin. :P

You are right Jammie. I belive I ment to writ the Treasure Of Khan. I can only go up the stairs to my bookroom once a day so I can't check till tommorow. Thanks for the heads up.w:

Thank you, Sean, I had deliberately not counted some of those pages like you said but had figure in my mind an average between 100,000 to 200,000 words for a typical book. But with the heftiest of Cussler tomes I fgured the neighborhood number I mentioned was probably over by no more than 50 to 90,000 words. Thank you! w:

This might seem like a silly question but why can you only go up to your bookroom once a day?

It's not a silly question. I have Emphysema and can only manage it once a day. When I put my computer/bookroom together I didn't have it. now I use the downstairs computer most of the time. w:

Sorry, I am a wiseass at heart and could not resist. Nothing personal, all in jest. :)