history audiobook
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari narrated by Derek Perkins is about 15 hours and 17 minutes long at normal speed. At 1.5× that drops to about 10 hr 11 min, and at 2× to about 7 hr 39 min.
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× | 19 hr 6 min |
| 1× | 15 hr 17 min |
| 1.25× | 12 hr 14 min |
| 1.5× | 10 hr 11 min |
| 1.75× | 8 hr 44 min |
| 2× | 7 hr 39 min |
| 2.5× | 6 hr 7 min |
| 3× | 5 hr 6 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 14 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× | 62 | 31 | 21 | 16 | 11 | 8 |
| 1.25× | 49 | 25 | 17 | 13 | 9 | 7 |
| 1.5× | 41 | 21 | 14 | 11 | 7 | 6 |
| 2× | 31 | 16 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 4 |
How long, really
At 15 hr 17 min, Sapiens is about the length of a drive from Chicago to Washington, D.C. and back. That's longer than about 70% of the 169 popular audiobooks we list.
Spoken at an average narration pace, Sapiens comes to roughly 142,000 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 Sapiens and how many hours remain, whichever app you listen in.
Common questions
The Sapiens audiobook by Yuval Noah Harari runs about 15 hours and 17 minutes at normal (1x) speed, in the edition narrated by Derek Perkins. Exact runtime can differ by a few minutes between editions and stores.
At 1.5x speed, Sapiens takes about 10 hours and 11 minutes. At 2x it takes about 7 hours and 39 minutes.
At one hour a day and normal speed, Sapiens 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 31 days.
Compared with the 169 popular audiobooks on this site, Sapiens is longer than about 70% of them. At 15 hr 17 min it is about the length of a drive from Chicago to Washington, D.C. and back.
