How long does it take to read The Finish?
Mark Bowden, James Lurie
The Finish by Mark Bowden, James Lurie takes about 5 hours 26 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 5 hours 26 minutes
A weekend read
First published 2012. 296 pages, about 81,400 words.
11 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 9 hours 3 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 5 hours 26 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 3 hours 24 minutes |
The page count is the median across 17 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
This work is a dramatic account of the hunt for and defeat of Osama bin Laden draws on unprecedented access to primary sources to trace how key decisions were made, revealing events from the perspectives of an adept President Obama and an increasingly despondent bin Laden. After masterminding the attacks of September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden managed to vanish. Over the next ten years, as the author shows, America found that its war with al Qaeda, a scattered group of individuals who were almost impossible to track, demanded an innovative approach. Step by step, the author describes the development of a new tactical strategy to fight this war, the fusion of intel from various agencies and on the ground special ops. After thousands of special forces missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the right weapon to go after bin Laden had finally evolved. By Spring 2011, intelligence pointed to a compound in Abbottabad; it was estimated that there was a 50/50 chance that Osama was there. The author shows how three strategies were mooted: a drone strike, a precision bombing, or an assault by Navy SEALs. In the end, the President had to make the final decision. It was time for the finish.
Subjects: United States. Navy. SEALs, Assassination, United States, Special operations (Military science), Terrorism, Prevention
