How long does it take to read Religion and the Decline of Magic?
Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England
Religion and the Decline of Magic by Keith Thomas takes about 13 hours 8 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 13 hours 8 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 1971. 716 pages, about 196,900 words.
27 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 21 hours 53 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 13 hours 8 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 8 hours 12 minutes |
The page count is the median across 5 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Witchcraft, astrology, divination and every kind of popular magic flourished in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, from the belief that a blessed amulet could prevent the assaults of the Devil to the use of the same charms to recover stolen goods. At the same time the Protestant Reformation attempted to take the magic out of religion, and scientists were developing new explanations of the universe. Keith Thomas's classic analysis of beliefs held on every level of English society begins with the collapse of the medieval Church and ends with the changing intellectual atmosphere around 1700, when science and rationalism began to challenge the older systems of belief.
Subjects: Occultism, Popular culture, Religious life and customs, Religion, History, Magic
