title: Error: invalid mode ('rb') when trying to read excel file in Python
body: <p>I'm a newbie and I've tried all sorts of things that showed up as answers for similar questions including using pandas_reader and nothing seemed to work. When I put in this code in my Python IDE</p>
  
  <pre><code>import xlrd
  workbook = xlrd.open_workbook("C:\Users\Raul\Downloads\research\test.xlsx")
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and I keep getting this error</p>
  
  <pre><code>IOError: [Errno 22] invalid mode ('rb') or filename: 'C:\\Users\\Raul\\Downloads\research\test.xlsx' 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and they are saved perfectly and everything.
  <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/IBy6K.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/IBy6K.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p>I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong?
  Thanks a lot for your help!</p>
  
  <p>PS I have excel 2013 if that makes a difference</p>