history audiobook
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond is about 16 hours long at normal speed. At 1.5× that drops to about 10 hr 40 min, and at 2× to about 8 hr.
Runtimes are approximate and vary slightly by edition and retailer. Check the length shown in Audible, Libby, Spotify or Apple Books for your copy.
| Playback speed | Total time |
|---|---|
| 0.8× | 20 hr |
| 1× | 16 hr |
| 1.25× | 12 hr 48 min |
| 1.5× | 10 hr 40 min |
| 1.75× | 9 hr 9 min |
| 2× | 8 hr |
| 2.5× | 6 hr 24 min |
| 3× | 5 hr 20 min |
Plan your listen
At one hour a day and normal speed, you'll finish in about 16 days. Speed it up to 1.5× and the same hour a day finishes it in about 11 days. At 45 minutes a day and 1.5×, plan on about 15 days.
The table below shows whole days needed for every combination of speed and daily listening time.
| Speed | 15 min | 30 min | 45 min | 1 hr | 1.5 hr | 2 hr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1× | 64 | 32 | 22 | 16 | 11 | 8 |
| 1.25× | 52 | 26 | 18 | 13 | 9 | 7 |
| 1.5× | 43 | 22 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 6 |
| 2× | 32 | 16 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 4 |
How long, really
At 16 hr, Guns, Germs, and Steel is about the length of a drive from Chicago to Washington, D.C. and back. That's longer than about 71% of the 169 popular audiobooks we list.
Spoken at an average narration pace, Guns, Germs, and Steel comes to roughly 149,000 words. Narrators vary, so a faster or slower reader will shift that number and the total runtime.
Want to try other speeds or your own schedule? Use the audiobook speed calculator or the listening goal calculator to find the daily minutes you need.
Track it as you listen
Booktrace is an iPhone audiobook tracker that logs your sessions, chapters, narrator and playback speed in one place, so you can see real progress through Guns, Germs, and Steel and how many hours remain, whichever app you listen in.
Common questions
The Guns, Germs, and Steel audiobook by Jared Diamond runs about 16 hours at normal (1x) speed. Exact runtime can differ by a few minutes between editions and stores.
At 1.5x speed, Guns, Germs, and Steel takes about 10 hours and 40 minutes. At 2x it takes about 8 hours.
At one hour a day and normal speed, Guns, Germs, and Steel takes about 16 days. At 1.5x speed and an hour a day it takes about 11 days. At 30 minutes a day and normal speed it takes about 32 days.
Compared with the 169 popular audiobooks on this site, Guns, Germs, and Steel is longer than about 71% of them. At 16 hr it is about the length of a drive from Chicago to Washington, D.C. and back.
