# longest book on tape
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-book-on-tape/83217
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 22, 2001, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-book-on-tape/83217 "2001-09-22T17:07:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Anubis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anubis)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2001, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-book-on-tape/83217/1 "2001-09-22T17:07:52Z")
What is the longest book that has ever been recorded for a book tape? I know that the fourth Harry Potter is a likely canidate with 734 pages.
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### Author:  [@DPWhite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPWhite)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2001, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-book-on-tape/83217/2 "2001-09-22T17:34:16Z")
Get real. Lord of the Rings is audio and it is more than twice as long. The longest work of fiction literature is Marcel Proust’s A Rememberence of Things Past (or something like that) and there are companies that for years have put books on audio (for sight impaired), and this is undoubtedly on available. Monsterously long. While it might not be regularly available, I find it inconceivable that a college for the blind would not have it on audio. (They probably have it in Braille too, but imagine the space that would take!) It may not be read by a great dulcet voice, but it’s probably out there.
Here are some sites that sells lots of classis as audio books (but not Proust): [http://www.blackstoneaudio.com/](http://www.blackstoneaudio.com/)[http://www.northstaraudio.com/store4/index.htmlhttp://www.audiobookcentral.com/](http://www.northstaraudio.com/store4/index.htmlhttp://www.audiobookcentral.com/)
Ah, here is a site that has the several volumes of the work including audio.
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### Author:  [@DPWhite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPWhite)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2001, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-book-on-tape/83217/3 "2001-09-22T17:36:08Z")
[http://my.linkbaton.com/bibliography/Proust/Marcel/](http://my.linkbaton.com/bibliography/Proust/Marcel/)
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### Author:  [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2001, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-book-on-tape/83217/4 "2001-09-22T17:41:57Z")
I know an Anne McCaffrey book on tape was 12 hours long.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2001, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-book-on-tape/83217/5 "2001-09-22T17:56:58Z")
The library I work at has War and Peace, fully and unabridged.
It’s 45 cassettes, front and back.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2001, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-book-on-tape/83217/6 "2001-09-22T17:58:22Z")
By the way, War and Peace is 67.5 hours long.
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### Author:  [@Anubis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anubis)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2001, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-book-on-tape/83217/7 "2001-09-22T18:42:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Mahaloth \*
> \*\*By the way, War and Peace is 67.5 hours long. \*\*
Ack! Cough! Sputter! Who could listen to a 67 and a half hour book??? And who would want to have to change 45 tapes? Has anyone checked it out?
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [September 22, 2001, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-book-on-tape/83217/8 "2001-09-22T20:03:20Z")
People check War and Peace out quite regularly. Truck Drivers are the ones who check out long books like this. Usually, they check out one volume at a time, maybe taking a break inbetween.
Oddly enough, nearly no one checks out the hard copy of this novel. I’m the only one I’ve seen check it out.