How long does it take to read How the Irish Saved Civilization?
Thomas Cahill
How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill takes about 4 hours 31 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 4 hours 31 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1995. 246 pages, about 67,650 words.
10 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 7 hours 31 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 4 hours 31 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 2 hours 49 minutes |
The page count is the median across 11 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
From the fall of Rome to the rise of Charlemagne - the "dark ages" - learning, scholarship, and culture disappeared from the European continent. The great heritage of western civilization - from the Greek and Roman classics to Jewish and Christian works - would have been utterly lost were it not for the holy men and women of unconquered Ireland. In this delightful and illuminating look into a crucial but little-known "hinge" of history, Thomas Cahill takes us to the "island of saints and scholars," the Ireland of St. Patrick and the Book of Kells. Here, far from the barbarian despoliation of the continent, monks and scribes laboriously, lovingly, even playfully preserved the west's written treasures. With the return of stability in Europe, these Irish scholars were instrumental in spreading learning. Thus the Irish not only were conservators of civilization, but became shapers of the medieval mind, putting their unique stamp on western culture.
Subjects: Learning and scholarship, Classical Civilization, Monastic libraries, Scriptoria, Civilization, Study and teaching
