How long do you think it would take?

Approximately, of course, for a world class player, or any GM, or perhaps an IM to complete this puzzle book from start to finish?  ////////   "The Complete Chess Workout"  1200 puzzles from beginner to advanced. by Richard Palliser.  Or perhaps "CHESS'' 5334 Problems, Combinations, and games by Laszlo Polgar.

A GM would finish Lazlo's book in a day.

Only the toughest problems would have them thinking for a minute or more.  Still 1200 problems is a lot in one sitting for anyone.  At 1 minute a problem that's still 20 hours straight (no way Laszlo's book in a day without some major commitment).  Maybe 1200 in as little as 8-10 hours... but again, you'd have to be pretty committed as it would be awfully boring as a titled player.

It would probably be best if the GM worked it from advanced to beginner.  That way the best brain power is spent on the hardest ones.  But who knows, perhaps advanced to a GM is as hard as a beginner puzzle would be for me. 

Yeah, they tend not to publish the level of problem that is difficult for the top .001% of the chess playing population

So if a GM were paid to be clocked, one could possibly finish Lazlo's book in one day.

More important question: Why does it matter how fast a GM could do it?

Yes, I think so.  In the first read, no way.  But if they were paid or it was a desierable record to hold, after a number of practice rounds (involving solving the whole book many times) they would end up memorizing a great number of them and be able to "solve" many in just a few seconds.

Of course it would have to be given on a computer as even flipping pages would eat up time.  Compared to what top level players have to do to stay there, this type of training would be easy for sure.  (Perhaps a fact worth mentioning to the people in those "I never resign!" threads who think "anything can happen!"

It doesn't of course, but woodshover asks a lot of questions like this on these forums.

I have the book, and as most know by now, I have most every book. Anyway, in the book Chess 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games by Laszlo Polagar he writes, "Most of them can be solved within a few minutes".

Give me a break. I've stared at a few mate in ones where it took me 30 - 45 minutes to solve each one. Perhaps I found a weakness in my game?

i think it is to make us mortals feel stupid.   

Are these challenge questions to associate chess people with music people?

Yes, I think you lack understanding of pawn moves, and especially pawn breaks in the Benoni.

Now, seriously, it would be a lot faster to try every possible move on the board to find the mate in 1. :D

1. Capablanca - Beethoven

2. Lasker and ?

3. Steinitz and ?

4. Alekhine and Wagner

5. Fischer and Mozart

6. Tal and Liszt

7. Botvinnik and ?????????

8. Karpov and ????????

9. Kasparov and Rachmaninov

10. Smyslov and ????????

About 12-15 hours for me I guess but I'm no GM

 What is wrong with just being curious about something once in a while?

 Not bad, none the less.

 I've only had the book a few days, and finally opened it a couple days ago. I haven't had any problems with the mate in ones yet, but I haven't looked at the harder ones. So it remains to be seen.

You should have done "1. Steinitz=Bach" first. The rest would follow.

I would start arranging the players and the composers to match chonologically.