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How long does it take to read The Great Starvation Experiment?

Todd Tucker

The Great Starvation Experiment by Todd Tucker takes about 5 hours 17 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

About 5 hours 17 minutes

A weekend read

First published 2006. 288 pages, about 79,200 words.

11 days at 30 minutes a day

Estimate based on 275 words per page.

At other speeds

Slow, 150 words a minute 8 hours 48 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 5 hours 17 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 3 hours 18 minutes

The page count is the median across 2 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

Near the end of World War II, thirty-six conscientious objectors volunteered to be systematically starved for renowned scientist Ancel Keys’s study at the University of Minnesota in the basement of Memorial Stadium. Aimed to benefit relief efforts in war-ravaged Europe and Asia, the study sought the best way to rehabilitate starving citizens. Tucker captures a lost moment in American history—a time when stanch idealism and a deep willingness to sacrifice trumped even basic human needs. “Tucker provides a fascinating and moving history of the experiment, centering on the lives and experiences of the volunteers and the formidable obstacles they overcame. Tucker tells the story with verve and economy. . . . Keys, his experiment and his 36 starving men form a compelling combination.” —Publishers Weekly Todd Tucker is the author of several books, including Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan (2004). He served on the legendary Navy submarine USS Alabama before moving to Valparaiso, Indiana.

Subjects: Hunger, Research, Physiological effect, Starvation, Conscientious objectors, Human experimentation in medicine

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