title: How to open a huge excel file efficiently
body: <p>I have a 150MB one-sheet excel file that takes about 7 minutes to open on a very powerful machine using the following:</p>
  
  <pre><code># using python
  import xlrd
  wb = xlrd.open_workbook(file)
  sh = wb.sheet_by_index(0)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Is there any way to open the excel file quicker? I'm open to even very outlandish suggestions (such as hadoop, spark, c, java, etc.). Ideally I'm looking for a way to open the file in under 30 seconds if that's not a pipe dream. Also, the above example is using python, but it doesn't have to be python.</p>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p><strong>Note: this is an Excel file from a client. It cannot be converted into any other format before we receive it. It is not our file</strong></p>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> Answer with a working example of code that will open the following 200MB excel file in under 30 seconds will be rewarded with bounty: <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_CXvCTOo7_2VW9id2VXRWZrbzQ/view?usp=sharing" rel="noreferrer">https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_CXvCTOo7_2VW9id2VXRWZrbzQ/view?usp=sharing</a>. This file should have string (col 1), date (col 9), and number (col 11).</p>