How long does it take to read The Orchid Thief?
The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean takes about 5 hours 30 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 5 hours 30 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1998. 300 pages, about 82,500 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 10 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 5 hours 30 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 3 hours 26 minutes |
The page count is the median across 11 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
The orchid thief in Susan Orlean's true story of beauty and obsession is John Laroche, a renegade plant dealer and sharply handsome guy, in spite of the fact that he is missing his front teeth and has the posture of al dente spaghetti. In 1994, Laroche and three Seminole Indians were arrested with rare orchids they had stolen from a wild swamp in south Florida that is filled with some of the world's most extraordinary plants and trees. Laroche had planned to clone the orchids and then sell them for a small fortune to impassioned collectors. After he was caught in the act, Laroche set off one of the oddest legal controversies in recent memory, which brought together environmentalists, Native American activists, and devoted orchid collectors. The result is a tale that is strange, compelling, and hilarious.
Subjects: Anecdotes, Plant collectors, Florida, Nursery growers, Polyradicion lindenii, Hollywood
