How long does it take to read Letters from the Earth?
Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain takes about 4 hours 24 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 4 hours 24 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1962. 240 pages, about 66,000 words.
9 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 7 hours 20 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 4 hours 24 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 2 hours 45 minutes |
The page count is the median across 29 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
The eponymous story, “Letters from the Earth,” is a set of eleven letters written by Satan to the archangels Gabriel and Michael about his travels. Satan finds human beliefs about themselves almost insane, pointing out that their conception of heaven leaves out everything humans find most pleasurable in life (particularly sex). He also considers God’s hypocrisies: not forgiving Adam and Eve even though humans are supposed to forgive transgressors; forbidding jealousy but then calling himself a jealous God; killing all the large animals during Noah’s flood even though they weren’t guilty of anything; allowing cruelty and misery to torment the innocent.
Subjects: Etiquette, Humor, Specimens, Miniature books, Religion, American wit and humor
