How long does it take to read The Horse, the Wheel, and Language?
David W. Anthony
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language by David W. Anthony takes about 10 hours 25 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 10 hours 25 minutes
A week or two of reading
First published 2007. 568 pages, about 156,200 words.
21 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 17 hours 21 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 10 hours 25 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 6 hours 31 minutes |
The page count is the median across 3 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Roughly half the world's population speaks languages derived from a shared linguistic source known as Proto-Indo-European. But who were the early speakers of this ancient mother tongue, and how did they manage to spread it around the globe? Until now their identity has remained a tantalizing mystery to linguists, archaeologists, and even Nazis seeking the roots of the Aryan race. The Horse, the Wheel, and Language lifts the veil that has long shrouded these original Indo-European speakers, and reveals how their domestication of horses and use of the wheel spread language and transformed civilization. Linking prehistoric archaeological remains with the development of language, David Anthony identifies the prehistoric peoples of central Eurasia's steppe grasslands as the original speakers of Proto-Indo-European, and shows how their innovative use of the ox wagon, horseback riding, and the warrior's chariot turned the Eurasian steppes into a thriving transcontinental corridor of communication, commerce, and cultural exchange. He explains how they spread their traditions and gave rise to important advances in copper mining, warfare, and patron-client political institutions, thereby ushering in an era of vibrant social change. Anthony also describes his fascinating discovery of how the wear from bits on ancient horse teeth reveals the origins of horseback riding. The Horse, the Wheel, and Language solves a puzzle that has vexed scholars for two centuries—the source of the Indo-European languages and English—and recovers a magnificent and influential civilization from the past.
Subjects: Horses, Animals and civilization, Bronze age, History, Prehistoric peoples, Antiquities
