How long does it take to read Ptolemy's Almagest?
Ptolemy's Almagest by Ptolemy takes about 16 hours 18 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 16 hours 18 minutes
A long haul
First published 1948. 889 pages, about 244,475 words.
33 days (about 5 weeks) at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 27 hours 10 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 16 hours 18 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 10 hours 11 minutes |
The page count is the median across 13 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Ptolemy's Almagest is one of the most influential scientific works in history. A masterpiece of technical exposition, it was the basic textbook of astronomy for more than a thousand years, and still is the main source for our knowledge of ancient astronomy. This translation, based on the standard Greek text of Heiberg, makes the work accessible to English readers in an intelligible and reliable form. It contains numerous corrections derived from medieval Arabic translations and extensive footnotes that take account of the great progress in understanding the work made in this century, due to the discovery of Babylonian records and other researches. It is designed to stand by itself as an interpretation of the original, but it will also be useful as an aid to reading the Greek text.
Subjects: Addresses, essays, lectures, Astronomy, Greek Mathematics, Stars, Catalogs
