How long does it take to read Shady Characters?
Shady Characters by Keith Houston takes about 6 hours 26 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 6 hours 26 minutes
A weekend read
First published 2013. 351 pages, about 96,525 words.
13 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 10 hours 44 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 6 hours 26 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 4 hours 1 minute |
The page count is the median across 6 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
In Shady Characters, Keith Houston weaves a fascinating trail through the nooks and crannies of typographical history, from the Library of Alexandria to the halls of Bell Labs. Whether investigating the annotating duo of asterisk (\*) and dagger (†); the plucky pilcrow (¶) and humble ampersand (&); or the at sign (@) and octothorpe (\#), both newly reinvigorated by the Internet, Shady Characters will delight all who cherish the unpredictable and surprising in the writing life.
Subjects: Type and type-founding, Writing, Punctuation, History, Signs and symbols, Type and type-founding, history
