ShelfLook
Tools About
Cover of A Planet of Viruses

How long does it take to read A Planet of Viruses?

Carl Zimmer

A Planet of Viruses by Carl Zimmer takes about 2 hours 8 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

About 2 hours 8 minutes

An evening's read

First published 2011. 116 pages, about 31,900 words.

5 days at 30 minutes a day

Estimate based on 275 words per page.

At other speeds

Slow, 150 words a minute 3 hours 33 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 2 hours 8 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 1 hour 20 minutes

The page count is the median across 7 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

Viruses are the smallest living things known to science, and yet they hold the entire planet in their sway. We are most familiar with the viruses that give us colds or the flu, but viruses also cause a vast range of other diseases. Viruses have been a part of our lives for so long, in fact, that we are actually part virus: the human genome contains more DNA from viruses than our own genes. Meanwhile, scientists are discovering viruses everywhere they look: in the soil, in the ocean, even in deep caves miles underground. Here, science writer Carl Zimmer presents the latest research on how viruses hold sway over our lives and our biosphere, how viruses helped give rise to the first life forms, how viruses are producing new diseases, how we can harness viruses for our own ends, and how viruses will continue to control our fate for years to come.--From publisher description.

Subjects: Viruses, Virus, Virus Diseases, Virology, Maladies virales, Viren

More by Carl Zimmer

Books like this

Popular books of similar length