How long does it take to read Babel-17?
Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany takes about 3 hours 32 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 3 hours 32 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1966. 193 pages, about 53,075 words.
8 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 5 hours 54 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 3 hours 32 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 2 hours 13 minutes |
The page count is the median across 45 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
During an interstellar war one side develops a language, Babel-17, that can be used as a weapon. Learning it turns one into an unwilling traitor as it alters perception and thought. This is discovered by the starship captain Rydra Wong. She is recruited to discover how the enemy are infiltrating and sabotaging strategic sites.
Subjects: Artificial Languages, Fiction, Life on other planets, Specimens, Upside-down books, Women linguists
