For what it's worth, wc tells me that the main text of the OP is about 44,500 words, and a web search suggests that the average adult reads 250-300 words per minute, which yields about 2.5-3.0 hours of reading time.

Good point! I don't think HN is catering for the average adult, however. A college student 500+ wpm is what I'd had in mind, and that along with the 131 pdf pages both suggest something around an hour to me.

(I didn't remember it being that long from both times I've read it, but I guess I found the thesis interesting enough that the time passed quickly?)

(Something else that I haven't seen pointed in this thread is that people with whose english is an L2 may legitimately be slower than in their L1.)