How long does it take to read The Sentinel?
The Sentinel by Arthur C. Clarke takes about 5 hours 33 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 5 hours 33 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1983. 303 pages, about 83,325 words.
12 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 9 hours 16 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 5 hours 33 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 3 hours 28 minutes |
The page count is the median across 9 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
From the Introduction... Today's readers are indeed fortunate; this really is the Golden Age of science fiction. There are dozens of authors at work today who can match all but the giants of the past. (And probably one who can do even that, despite the handicap of being translated from Polish. . . ) Yet I do not really envy the young men and women who first encounter science fiction as the days shorten towards 1984, for we old-timers were able to accomplish something that was unique. Ours was the last generation that was able to read everything. No one will ever do that again. Of course, it may well be argued that no one should want to do so, in deference to Theodore Sturgeon's much-quoted Law: "Ninety percent of everything is crud." It is—to say the least—a sobering thought that this might apply even to my writing. I can only hope that everything that follows comes from the other ten percent.
Subjects: English Fantasy fiction, English Science fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, general
