How long does it take to read The Consolation of Philosophy?
The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius takes about 3 hours 40 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 3 hours 40 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1483. 200 pages, about 55,000 words.
8 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 6 hours 7 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 3 hours 40 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 2 hours 18 minutes |
The page count is the median across 122 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Boethius composed the De Consolatione Philosophiae in the sixth century A.D. whilst awaiting death under torture. He had been condemned on a charge of treason which he protested was manifestly unjust. Though a convinced Christian, in detailing the true end of life which is the soul's knowledge of God, he consoled himself not with Christian precepts but with the tenets of Greek philosophy. This work dominated the intellectual world of the Middle Ages; writers as diverse as Thomas Aquinas, Jean de Meun, and Dante were inspired by it. In England it was rendered into Old English by Alfred the Great, into Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer, and later Queen Elizabeth I made her own translation. The circumstances of composition, the heroic demeanour of the author, and the 'Menippean' texture of part prose, part verse (Boethius was a considerable poet) have combined to exercise a fascination over students of philosophy and literature ever since. The book should therefore prove to be of value to students and scholars of classics, philosophy, and religion as well as to more general readers.
Subjects: Incunabula, God, Miniature books, Medieval Education, Specimens, Medieval Philosophy
