How Long to Read Skeletons

How Long Does it Take to Read Skeletons?

It takes the average reader 5 hours and 12 minutes to read Skeletons by Jan Zalasiewicz

Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more

Description

Over half a billion years ago life on earth took an incredible step in evolution, when animals learned to build skeletons. Using many different materials, from calcium carbonate and phosphate, and even silica, to make shell and bone, they started creating the support structures that are now critical to most living forms, providing rigidity and strength. Manifesting in a vast variety of forms, they provided the framework for sophisticated networks of life that fashioned the evolution of Earth's oceans, land and atmosphere. Within a few tens of millions of years, all of the major types of skeleton had appeared. Skeletons enabled an unprecedented array of bodies to evolve, from the tiniest seed shrimp to the gigantic dinosaurs and blue whales. The earliest bacterial colonies constructed large rigid structures - stromatolites - built up by trapping layers of sediment, while the mega-skeleton that is the Great Barrier Reef is big enough to be visible from space. The skeletons of millions of coccolithophores that lived in the shallow seas of the Mesozoic built the white cliffs of Dover. These, and insects, put their scaffolding on the outside, as an exoskeleton, while vertebrates have endoskeletons. Skeletons may be hydrostatic, or, as is common, made of calcium phosphate, or from carbonate, or silica - the latter used to create delicate and elegant designs by diatoms and radiolarians. They need to be light and strong for flight. Plants use tubes of dead tissue for rigidity and transport of liquids - which in the case of tall trees need to be strong enough to extend 100 m or more from the ground. Others simply stitch together a coating from mineral grains on the seabed. In Skeletons, Jan Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams explore the incredible variety of the skeleton innovations that have enabled life to expand into a wide range of niches and lifestyles on the planet. Discussing the impact of climate change, which puts the formation of some kinds of skeleton at risk, they also consider future skeletons, including the possibility that we might increasingly incorporate metal and plastic elements into our own, as well as the possible materials for skeleton building on other planets.

How long is Skeletons?

Skeletons by Jan Zalasiewicz is 311 pages long, and a total of 78,061 words.

This makes it 105% the length of the average book. It also has 95% more words than the average book.

How Long Does it Take to Read Skeletons Aloud?

The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 7 hours and 6 minutes to read Skeletons aloud.

What Reading Level is Skeletons?

Skeletons is suitable for students ages 12 and up.

Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.

When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.

Where Can I Buy Skeletons?

Skeletons by Jan Zalasiewicz is sold by several retailers and bookshops. However, Read Time works with Amazon to provide an easier way to purchase books.

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