How long does it take to read The 48 Laws of Power?
The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene takes about 8 hours 17 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 8 hours 17 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 1998. 452 pages, about 124,300 words.
17 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 13 hours 49 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 8 hours 17 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 5 hours 11 minutes |
The page count is the median across 51 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this piercing work distills three thousand years of the history of power in to forty-eight well explicated laws. As attention--grabbing in its design as it is in its content, this bold volume outlines the laws of power in their unvarnished essence, synthesizing the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun-tzu, Carl von Clausewitz, and other great thinkers. Some laws teach the need for prudence ("Law 1: Never Outshine the Master"), the virtue of stealth ("Law 3: Conceal Your Intentions"), and many demand the total absence of mercy ("Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally"), but like it or not, all have applications in real life. Illustrated through the tactics of Queen Elizabeth I, Henry Kissinger, P. T. Barnum, and other famous figures who have wielded--or been victimized by--power, these laws will fascinate any reader interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control.
Subjects: Business, Control (Psychology), Contrôle (Psychologie), Pouvoir (Morale), Nonfiction, Power (Philosophy)