On Certainty by Ludwig Wittgenstein
Published 1969 · 32,175 words · about 4 hours at an average pace
How hard is On Certainty to read?
On Certainty scores 75 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it very challenging. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 62 out of 100
- Ordinary words used in extraordinary ways, which is its own difficulty.
- Sentence structure: 55 out of 100
- Short, plain numbered remarks.
- Abstraction: 92 out of 100
- Doubt and certainty examined at the limit of what can be said.
- Information density: 78 out of 100
- Each remark carries a whole move in an argument.
How On Certainty is regarded
On Certainty holds a literary regard score of 87 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.