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Cover of The smartest guys in the room : the amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron by Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind.

Book · Non-fiction, memoir and self-help

The smartest guys in the room : the amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron

by Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind.

Page count, estimated reading time and reading quiz: everything to know before you start The smartest guys in the room : the amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron, and the Vread challenge to get to the end.

Pages
843
Reading time
≈ 15 h 20 min
Checkpoints
24
Genre
Non-fiction
Take the challengeAlready have the app? Open the book

Free on iPhone and Android.

How long does it take to read The smartest guys in the room : the amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron?

At 843 pages, The smartest guys in the room : the amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron is a doorstopper. Expect about 15 hours 20 minutes of reading to finish it, based on 250 words per page and an average reading speed of 230 words per minute. A fast reader will go quicker; a careful read (or reading in a second language) will take longer.

At 30 minutes a day, that is about 31 days of reading. At the median pace of Vread readers, 72 pages per reading day, it takes 12 reading days. For a book of this length (600 pages or more), Vread readers who finish it take a median of 6.4 days between the first and the last checkpoint (Vread Reading Barometer 2026).

Reading days to finish it
30 minutes a day31 days
Vread median pace (72 pp./day)12 days

Estimates; see the method at the bottom of the page.

Prove you read it

The Vread challenge: 24 checkpoints

  1. Checkpoint 1, page 35
  2. Checkpoint 2, page 70
  3. Checkpoint 3, page 105
  4. Checkpoint 4, page 141
  5. Checkpoint 5, page 176
  6. Checkpoint 6, page 211
  7. Checkpoint 7, page 246
  8. Checkpoint 8, page 281
  9. Checkpoint 9, page 316
  10. Checkpoint 10, page 351
  11. Checkpoint 11, page 386
  12. Checkpoint 12, page 422
  13. Checkpoint 13, page 457
  14. Checkpoint 14, page 492
  15. Checkpoint 15, page 527
  16. Checkpoint 16, page 562
  17. Checkpoint 17, page 597
  18. Checkpoint 18, page 632
  19. Checkpoint 19, page 667
  20. Checkpoint 20, page 703
  21. Checkpoint 21, page 738
  22. Checkpoint 22, page 773
  23. Checkpoint 23, page 808
  24. Checkpoint 24, page 843

In Vread, The smartest guys in the room : the amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron is split into 24 checkpoints, one every 35 pages or so. At each checkpoint, a question covers the passage you have just read: a correct answer validates the step, and your progress moves forward like a training plan.

The challenge: validate all 24 checkpoints through to the last page. No giant quiz at the end, no summary to copy out: short questions along the way that prove the book was actually read. It also works as a reading quiz to check your understanding before a test.

Also available in French on Vread.

Illustrative example

Checkpoint 1/24pp. 1–35

What a checkpoint looks like

A short, precise question about the pages you have just read: a character, a place, a choice.

The answer is in the text: reply in the app.

This is not a question from The smartest guys in the room : the amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron: to avoid spoilers, the real questions stay in the app.

Answer in the app, one checkpoint at a time.

Summary, quiz, reviews: frequently asked questions

How many pages is The smartest guys in the room : the amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron?
The edition listed on Vread has 843 pages. The exact count varies by edition (paperback, hardback, ebook).
How long does it take to read The smartest guys in the room : the amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron?
About 15 hours 20 minutes of reading, or 31 days at 30 minutes a day.
Is there a quiz on The smartest guys in the room : the amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron?
Yes: the Vread app has 24 reading questions on The smartest guys in the room : the amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron, one per checkpoint, unlocked as you read.
Where can I find a summary of The smartest guys in the room : the amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron?
Vread does not publish summaries: the app supports reading the book itself, part by part. Checkpoint questions cover what you have just read, which makes them a good way to check you did not miss anything.

Read The smartest guys in the room : the amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron with Vread

Add the book to your library, read at your own pace in whatever format you use, and validate each checkpoint. Vread is free on iPhone and Android.

Take the challenge

Written by Vread from its catalogue data (page count of the listed edition, checkpoints, ratings aggregated from 10 ratings). No summary or publisher text is reproduced. Reading times are estimates; see the method in the Vread Reading Barometer (in French).