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How long does it take to read A Short History of Philosophy?

Robert C. Solomon

A Short History of Philosophy by Robert C. Solomon takes about 6 hours 2 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

About 6 hours 2 minutes

A weekend read

First published 1996. 329 pages, about 90,475 words.

13 days at 30 minutes a day

Estimate based on 275 words per page.

At other speeds

Slow, 150 words a minute 10 hours 3 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 6 hours 2 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 3 hours 46 minutes

The page count is the median across 1 edition, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

Philosophy is a singularly expansive enterprise, a fascinating outgrowth of a human nature that demands we question who and why we are. In A Short History of Philosophy, the most accessible concise portrait of philosophy in seventy years, Robert Solomon and Kathleen Higgins meet the challenge of accurately and engagingly describing it all, reveling in philosophy as "the art of wonder," the search for meaning, a gripping, dramatic endeavor. With a clear, witty style and a flair for making complex ideas accessible, the authors also convincingly demonstrate the relevance of philosophy to our times, emphasizing the legacy of the revolutions wrought by science, industry, colonialism, and sectarian warfare, and the philosophical responses to the traumas of the twentieth century (including two world wars and the Holocaust): existentialism, positivism, postmodernism, feminism, and multiculturalism among them. But Solomon and Higgins go beyond merely retelling the rich history of philosophy; the authors provide their own twists and interpretations of events, resulting in a story that reveals the continuing complexity and diversity of a richly textured and nuanced intellectual tradition. All who are "lovers of wisdom" will find much to reward them in this book.

Subjects: Philosophy, History, Philosophy, history

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