How long does it take to read The Descent of Man?
and selection in relation to sex
The Descent of Man by Charles Darwin takes about 12 hours 52 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 12 hours 52 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 1871. 702 pages, about 193,050 words.
26 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 21 hours 27 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 12 hours 52 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 8 hours 3 minutes |
The page count is the median across 52 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
The Descent of Man, Darwin's second landmark work on evolutionary theory (following The Origin of the Species), marked a turning point in the history of science with its modern vision of human nature as the product of evolution. Darwin argued that the noblest features of humans, such as language and morality, were the result of the same natural processes that produced iris petals and scorpion tails.To convey the revolutionary importance of this groundbreaking book, renowned evolutionary science writer Carl Zimmer edited this special abridged edition—made up of nine excerpts, each one representing one of Darwin's major themes—and wrote illuminating introductions to each section, as well as an overall introduction. Zimmer brilliantly places Darwin's basic ideas in the context of the current understanding of human nature and twenty-first-century DNA research. By accessibly presenting Darwin's thinking to a modern readership, Zimmer eloquently demonstrates Darwin's ever-increasing relevance and amazing scientific insight.
Subjects: Evolution, Evolution (Biology), Genetics, Heredity, Homme, Human beings
