Book Description

Jules Verne has been acknowledged --for 150 years-- as one of the founders of the science fiction story telling genre; but, curiously enough, over a century ago readers knew him as the most popular writer of a kind of literature cataloged under the name of Travel Novel; the purpose of those who cultivated the genre was as much to teach as to entertain. However, Jules Verne went beyond the Travel Novel and became the most accredited representative of the Scientific Novel, which he further developed into the Science Fiction Novel. It would be pointless to ask Jules Verne if he brought science into the context of the novel or simply introduced the novel in the field of science; his enthusiasm led him from one genre to the other and his creativity, his fertility, did the rest. Jules Verne was the first, at least in France, to use the marvelous scientist as main character; an element of his story-telling that especially established his enormous success.Five Weeks in a Balloon launched Jules Verne in 1863 into a famous and well-respected career, writing prescient literature loved worldwide. This journey of discovery in Africa by three Englishmen --Doctor Ferguson, his friend Kennedy and his valet Joe-- who undertake the crossing of the African Continent in a balloon. The reader learns the geography of Africa and the history of its main explorers and follows, along the way, a course of aerostation. Journey to the Center of the Earth is Jules Verne''s most popular work --a tale of adventures inside planet Earth, written in 1864. The novel deals with the discovery of an ancient runic manuscript by a German scholar who, with his nephew and a guide, undertakes a journey to the center of the earth by entering through an extinct Icelandic volcano, the Sn�fellsj�kull; it is a clever mix of scientific data, daring extrapolations and adventures very representative of what Verne later published. Professor Lidenbrock is bigger than life with his unlimited devotion to science and his ethics, but also by his ridiculous antics. The novel is not just an imaginary trip toward the Earth''s core; it is also a journey in paleontology that takes the reader through the various epochs of our planet''s formation. The possibility of a subterranean sea similar to the Lidenbrock Sea has been for a long time refuted by geological scientists; however, in 2016, researchers from Florida State University and the University of Edinburgh estimated that water existed far deeper in the Earth than previously thought. Although the exact amount of water is unknown, researchers believe it could account for as much as 1.5 percent of the weight of the planet --the same amount of water as all the world''s oceans put together. I don''t know if this body of water has yet been given a name; but may I suggest Lidenbrock Sea.Around the World in 80 Days is Jules Verne''s masterpiece: The first three chapters alone would make a fine short story. The book is an absolute joy to read, beautifully written with thrilling adventures, brief historical background notes concerning a given place and time, subtle humor and --Romance. Jean Passepartout, a young Frenchman, muscular and of herculean strength, has practiced such disparate trades as street singer, circus acrobat, gymnastics teacher, and fireman sergeant in Paris; but he is tired of that existence. After leaving behind the Jack-of-all-trade lifestyle of his youth, we find him in London, trying out the more peaceful trade of valet. Passepartout is delighted to find Phileas Fogg, the perfect sedentary English gentlemen. He gladly foresees a future of pure blissful quietude as valet in the house on Saville Row; but his dream of blissful tranquility is cut short, for the very day he is hired, Phileas Fogg, contrary to his calm, collected, sedentary nature, decides to take up the challenge of traveling around the world in eighty days! And right there and then, our young Frenchman is embarked on a race against time around the planet. Enjoy!