Jules Verne Books

Jules Verne's Paris in the Twentieth Century, hailed and widely publicized as "The Lost Novel" when it was discovered in 1989 and published in English in 1994, is valuable to the history of science fiction literature, but is not necessarily what one would expect from a Jules Verne novel. This particular text was written in 1863 and submitted for publication following the success of Verne's first published story, Five Weeks in a Balloon. His publisher, Pierre-Jules Hetzel, rejected the novel on the basis that it presented such a pessimistic view of the future that it would only harm the author's growing reputation as the writer of exciting adventure stories.

Paris in the Twentieth Century is certainly dystopic in nature. It presents a future world replete with technology, but devoid of culture. In fact, artists, writers, musicians, and other scholars as we know them today have no place in this highly structured, government controlled society. Our protagonist, the teenaged Michel Dufrenoy, fits into this category. He worships at the altar of the great French writers and philosophers of old, but the names of his gods are virtually unknown and entirely unimportant in the world of the future. Unfortunately, the character of Michel remains relatively undeveloped throughout the text: from his introduction, through his continued disillusionment, and finally his melodramatic "death" in a cemetery, he grows little and entertains less. The plot is also unlike the plots of other Verne works; this book does not have much in the way of action, and doesn't present the sort of adventurous journey that we have come to expect from Verne through his other works, like Journey to the Center of the Earth or Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

However, the text is perhaps unintentionally made more interesting through the accuracy of Verne's predictions of future technology. Among other things, Verne describes gasoline-powered automobiles, a public metro system with elevated trains, computer-like devices, global communication networks similar to the Internet, military weapons, public electric lighting, commercial advertising, global financial markets, fax machines . . . the list goes on and on, even including predictions of modern electronic music. While there are certainly some elements that miss the mark (pianos that convert to both dining tables and commodes?), Verne produces a vision of the future that, from the modern perspective, is largely believable. Overall, Paris in the Twentieth Century is worth a read, not only for Verne fans and science fiction buffs, but also for anyone who is interested in the development of the modern novel and the portrayal of the artist repressed by his society.

Verne's publisher called this "lackluster and lifeless," so it was locked up in a safe and never released.

Reading it, I can understand why. The characters are boring and predictable, and the dialogue is flat. Verne's vision of the future is not particularly intriguing.

Really, this book is only worth reading for Verne's sometimes prophetic predictions. He imagines the elevator, the automobile and fax machines, for example.

Not horrible, but not up to the standard I expect from Verne.

Just finished reading it for the first time, and would (highly) recommend it to anyone.

I wonder what Verne would write were he alive today, looking at the world as it exists now.

He would no doubt prompt us to look at things in ways we might not otherwise.

He was a truly gifted writer, thinker and social observer.

This was a long-lost Manuscript of Verne's; it was his second science fiction novel and one of his most pessimistic (probably because he had not yet achieved his full success in life). It was never fleshed out into a full length novel due to its lack of commercial prospects (his publisher rightly assumed that people were looking for more positive views of the future in his day, just as his positive visions of the future are unlikely to become best sellers today) Via extrapolation of the technology and social conditions of his day, he managed to make any number of amusingly accurate predictions as to how the future (1960s paris) would look. "The future," in fact, looked an awful lot like he said it would. Lots of high rises, international trade causing more world harmony, lots of "service industry" dominating the economy, huge universities (something that was not at all obvious in his day), elevators, keyboard computers, the end of classics and rhetoric as the central feature of higher education, fax machines, cars, industrialization of the arts, the metro: all predictions which more or less came true.

Of course, his metro was above ground like the T in Boston rather than the underground metro they have in Paris today. And his cars ran on compressed air and "carbolic acid" and such. And while weapons of mass destruction "rendered war ridiculous, and France finding it laughable, disarmed," war isn't so ridiculous that France has disarmed completely.

Amusing things he missed: ball point pens, databases, "industrialization" of pop culture, and the manner in which the arts became barbarous. He was convinced that all artistic things in the future would be machine-like; frankly I think that machine-art is one of the few areas in which modern art occasionally remains interesting or relevant. The main character of this novella was a sort of hippy, except that instead of cultivating the childish nonsense that hippies did in the 1960s, his character cultivated latin poetry.

I think people read a lot more into his "prophecies" than was appropriate. This was apparently a runaway best-seller in 1994 Paris. I would imagine that lots of pious french types read a lot into his predictions, moaning that it was as bad as he said and worse. In fact, life in the 1960s were a lot worse and a much, much better than Verne predicted. It was worse in that, instead of global trade issuing a new era of peace and making armies irrelevant, trade has really only made war between the western european nations unnecessary. Quite an accomplishment after countless millenia of slaughter (Europe has not been as peaceful as it is now since the Roman empire). It was worse in that, instead of poetry named "electric harmonies" and music called "a grand fantasy on the liquefaction of carbonic acid" we had the insipid poetry of Alan Ginsberg and Maya Angelou (or whatever the French were reading), and the vulgar, grody pop music of Serge Gainsbourg and the Monkeys. It was much better in that, while the old arts of opera, drama, painting, novels, symphony and so on are not "pop-art" as they were in the old days, but they are still well-supported hobbies of the bourgeoise and upper classes. It is much better in that, instead of starving all the people who could not deal with soul-killing 30 hour work weeks as happened in Verne's book, socialistic government agencies kept enough such idle people around to have street riots in 1968 and cause the downfall of the 4th republic (Verne assumed it would be an empire of Napoleon IV).
OK, maybe that part wasn't so much better.

It was better in that bestsellers were not "on the lubrication of driveshafts" but were "a history of sexuality by foucault" (one could read that as another form of driveshaft lubrication). I would imagine most of his 1994 I would imagine most of his 1994 readers were not as choked up as Verne was on the loss of the tradition of the duel on the champs de mars and ancient martial traditions: though I rather share his sentiments; as his lead character quotes Stendhal, "fighting ennobles the soul."

A cute little read.

If only it had stayed lost, maybe surviving only in rumor and speculation, we could have imagined the great things Verne might have predicted. We could have wondered at the clever plot twists. Just out of reach, it could have been great.

But in our hands, apart from his reporting on the newest of the new inventions of his time (e.g. a rudimentary fax/telegraph machine), we can only follow the thin, strident plot and marvel at the visions not seen.

Of course if you love Verne, you have to read it. Just lower your expectations a bit. There's no Captain Nemo here.

"The Mighty Orinoco" is the third Jules Verne book in the Early Classics of Science Fiction series, and the sixth book overall. The series is impressive, and this edition is no exception. The novel was first published as "Le Superbe Orénoque" in "Magasin" from January 1st through December 15th of 1898, and is the 45th of his scientific fiction stories. As with all the Voyages Extraordinaires, Verne builds an adventure story off of a solid scientific base. For this book, Verne used Jean Chaffanjon's account of his real life journeys from his book "L'Orénoque et le Caura". Where that account leaves off, Verne is forced to invent, but for the vast majority of the story, Verne's descriptions of the river, rapids, flora, fauna, and human communities were all extremely accurate.

It is easy for us today to not think of this novel as science fiction (or scientific fiction as Verne called it); however, in the days before satellites and space ships taking pictures of the Earth, matters of geography were definitely of scientific interest. While Verne endeavored to create a solid scientific basis for this story, there is much more to it then simply the search for the origin of the river. In addition to the search for the source of the river by M. Miguel, M. Felipe, and M. Varinas, there is a parallel story of the search by Jean Kermor and Sergeant Martial, who claim to be an uncle and nephew, searching for Colonel de Kermor who is supposed to be the father of Jean.

Sergeant Martial tries to keep Jean and himself separate from the other travelers, but as they are following the same path for different reasons, there is no choice but for the groups to interact. Along the way they find Jacqus Helloch and Germain Paterne, and now the main characters are together for most of the journey. Verne does have some twists in the story, but unlike today's writers, he provides so many clues as to what these twists are, that the reader is well ahead of the characters. Still, it would not be fair to include any spoilers here, and so I will refrain from going into any further details of the story.

One of the interesting themes which Verne touches on in this book is race and racism. At times, the reader has to forgive what appear to be racist comments in the text. On the other hand, Verne does have a significant number of characters from the "lesser" races in positions of unusual authority. One has to wonder if Verne isn't well ahead of his time in showing that the racist stereotypes are false.

The novel is divided into two sections. The first section introduces most of the major characters, and they are together. It ends when the group reaches San Fernando, and with the revelation of one of the big secrets. The second section takes us the rest of the way, and in addition to the story lines which have already been mentioned, the story line of a group of outlaws and renegade Indians interweaves with the other story lines more and more.

The pace of this story will feel slow, especially when compared with modern fiction. The book runs 370 pages, and those who don't like all the detail with which Verne fills the chapters will probably not care for it much. On the other hand, those who have read and enjoyed other Verne stories should enjoy this one. This is the first English edition of this book, translated by Stanford L. Luce. As with the other books in the Early Classics of Science Fiction, there is some supporting material as well. There is a short, but informative, introduction written by Walter James Miller, Professor of English at New York University. Professor Miller also provides some excellent notes for the story. There is bibliography of Jules Verne's works, and a short biography of Verne by Editor Arthur B. Evans.

I am glad I took the time to read this book. It gets good torward the middle, with the best being the last few chapters. At first, the plot is a little hard to figure out, but like I said, it all falls together nicely. Personally, I like reading stories with good endings.

From the 1870s, and for a quarter century, every new Verne novel had been issued in translation. Abruptly, in 1898, American and British publishers broke this tradition with The Mighty Orinoco (Le Superbe Orénoque), now available for the first time in English over a century later from Wesleyan University Press.
Why did the publishers of Verne's time reject this book, and nearly every one thereafter, although one or two Verne books had appeared annually under his byline in France until 1910, five years after his death? Since 1880, Verne stories had been mainstays of Boys Own Paper in England. American publishers came to rely more and more on utilizing the English translations, rather than commissioning fresh ones for use in the United States. Hence, by the 1890s, the anticipated taste of the British market came to govern what appeared in English translations on either side of the Atlantic.
The lack of a translation of The Mighty Orinoco has also been a factor in the conventional perception of Verne as a writer unable to place women in strong roles. The hero of The Mighty Orinoco is a 22-year-old woman undertakes a search for the father she has never known, whom she learns may have disappeared along the South American river that forms the book's title. To travel incognito, she dresses as a 17 year old boy, Jean, accompanied by one of her father's former military aides, Martial (whose name signifies his background). This is not simply the conventional story for youth of a girl proving courageous when faced with sudden danger. Instead it is a premeditated adoption of a new gender, a complete violation of the standard sex roles.
Along the way, she and Martial meet two naturalists, also exploring the river, and join forces. One of them, Jacques, cannot account for the attraction he feels toward Jean, deeper than what can be accounted for by male friendship. For his part, Martial is frustrated at his inability to shield Jeanne from this potential future lover. Only when rescuing Jean from drowning does Jacques discover her secret, and at that point their emotions can follow a normal heterosexual development.
Jean/Jeanne herself ultimately makes a similar transformation; for the search of her father, she had passed as a man, but once it is no longer necessary, she assumes feminine garb, which she had even brought with her. As noted in the critical commentary by the dean of American Verne scholars, Walter James Miller, Jacques remains attracted to the masculine side of Jeanne's nature, revealing Verne's insight into the dual aspects of masculinity and femininity present in individuals of either gender. As Germain exclaims of Jeanne, "Charming as a lad, and charming as a lass! It's true-I don't understand it at all!" (354) And on the return journey, calling again on those who knew them on the way out, Jacques has to explain how he married Jean!
It is easy to see why such a premise, as readily comprehensible as it may be to older readers, would be precluded when Boys Own Paper was such a crucial outlet. And that fact, unfortunately, denied for English-language readers one of Verne's best late colonial adventures.
Verne's journey involves a perilous passage, through steadily greater natural dangers, climaxing in abduction by bandits. However, their destination reveals not the heart of darkness, but one of light and civilization. Jeanne's father has become a priest and head of a utopian community, named Juana for Jeanne. He combines the best aspects of both a man of faith and one who insures the defense of the city, and the forces of righteousness defeat the bandits.
Verne well knew that his readers would quickly guess Jeanne's "secret," so he added mystery as the story unfolds, by initial withholding some of the motivations for her trip. Only in a fragmentary way are aspects of her past filled in, with the end jumping ahead to switch point of view entirely with her father's discover of his daughter and his rescue of her (he had thought she had died as a child). As Miller notes, the development and interweaving of the five plot "strands is a lesson in plotting." (374) In this way the reversal and recognition on which the novel relies remains fresh and vivid. The book is well-paced, with a perfect balance of varied and intriguing characters.
In typical manner for the genre, Verne reveals conflicting attitudes toward race and imperialism. There is a consciousness of racial difference, among Indians, Spaniards, and those of mixed blood (again, hardly likely to be approved of as reading for the Boys Own audience), but there are also no racist assumptions based on this background. Similarly, Verne sees typical benefits of "civilization," that is, white civilization, in the usual manner offered through missionary work, health, improvements in agriculture, and the like. The hope for the country's future is an Indian boy who has been educated at the mission, but who lost his father to the bandits, evoking parallels with Jeanne. The only true villain is the Spanish bandit Jorres, who, in another echo of Jeanne, is revealed to actually be the outlaw Alfaniz. Humor is derived from a trio of quarrelsome European explorers, true idiot savants, who are perpetually unable to agree on the river's tributaries.
Fortunately, again Wesleyan University Press's ongoing series of the Early Classics of Science Fiction, which will include a number of previously untranslated Verne books, has included all the original engravings, reproduced in an even higher quality than their previous Verne volumes, The Invasion of the Sea and The Mysterious Island. Pioneering Verne scholar Stanford Luce, who wrote the first American doctoral dissertation on Verne, provides a highly readable translation.

Two separate groups of travelers arrange passage up the Orinoco River of Venezuala but end up traveling mostly together. The first group is 3 mapmakers who argue constantly over the actual origin of the Orinoco and which are it's tributaries. The second group, a young man and his older companion, are much more mysterious about their objectives. They'll say only that they are seeking a certain man who is said to have gone up the same river many years before. This man they are seeking turns out to be the father of the young man, and the young man turns out to actually be... well, that's a poorly kept secret of the story. Along the way they face dangerous rapids and unfriendly savages, as well as treasonous porters.

While I was hoping for an old-fashioned adventure, I was rather bored by the story. To make it worse, the secrets and surprises were pretty obvious, and there just wasn't much excitement. While I found "The Mysterious Island" to be very interesting in spite of a generally slow pace, this book was just plain slow. This is a book probably best enjoyed by rabid Verne fans.

Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne is about a man living in London named Philears Fogg. In the book he makes a bet to go around the world In 80 days. The book tells a lot about his adventures and how he has obstacles in his way. Sounds like fun right? Well if you like TONS of info on everything and moving through the book like an INCH WORM... then this book is for you. I didn't like it that much. The story was fine. I thought it was too long. The book was slow paced, but well thought out. When they got to a new city they never stayed there for long. Verne would tell you a lot about the place and he would leave as soon as he got there. It was also kind of hard to understand because it was written in a context that was a British like.

The book takes you to lots of places and you meet new people. There is an arrest warrant out for Mr. Fogg because of he's wealth. A man by the name of "The Fix" has to try to capture him, so it makes it a fun story. In conclusion, I would have to say I thought the book was fun and detailed but I would not read it again. Maybe if the book was written in the way we talk today I would have enjoyed it more. So out of 5 stars I give it 3.

A journey around the world must be made in 80 days, or else, on December 21st at eight forty-five p.m., Phileas Fogg will lose 20,000 pounds. This doesn't seem at all difficult in modern time, but was terribly hard, probably impossible, in 1872. Around the World in 80 Days is great for fans of historical fiction.
Phileas Fogg sets off from England with a bag full of clothes and his French servant, Passepartout. Phileas Fogg is an odd character, an older man who is very precise and never takes a step more than necessary. He shows no emotion, but is not always cold hearted. Passepartout is loyal, and never questions Phileas Fogg's decisions. The characters are not very clearly described, but their actions are very easy to imagine.
Jules Verne was born in Nantes, France, in 1828. He began his career as an author in 1863, at the age of 35. He wrote man successful books, which were given the collective title " Extraordinary journeys into the Known and Unknown Worlds." Among them are Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and Around the World in 80 days. Jules Verne continued to write until his death in 1905.
It's an interesting read, because you can compare things to modern day items. If you're confused about what something is, there is a glossary in the back. I personally got slightly board with the repetitiveness of how Phileas Fogg always paid off any obstacles that slowed him down.

Although it has a cover for the 2004 movie version of the book, this translation of "Around the World in 80 Days" ("Le tour du monde en quartre-vingts jours") by Jules Verne isn't just a quickly recycled old edition with a new cover slapped on it. It is a complete new translation by Michael Glencross that fixes the mistakes and sloppy translations found in most others editions -- many of them more than fifty years old and continuously clumped out on the market. Verne deserves better, and here it is. Doing comparisons with some of the other editions that I own shows how superior and well-thought out Glencross's translation is. He includes many pages of endnotes as well. The endnotes are valuable for the modern reader to navigate some of Verne's references, as well as understanding his attitude and his world. The notes also contain information on the translation choices that Glencross made. This edition will immensely increase your enjoyment of one of the most popular and perenially enjoyable stories of adventure and technology ever written.

"Around the World in 80 Days" was first published in book form in 1973, and quickly became a worldwide bestseller. Jules Verne is today considered principally a science-fiction writer, but many of his books were straightforward travelogues. This novel takes the travelogue concept to its extreme, sending the hero on a blistering tour of the world.

And what a hero! Phileas Fogg, a British gentleman and member of the Reform Club, who lives his life in exact measurements, takes a bet at his club that he cannot travel around the world along a designated route in less than eighty days. Fogg takes the bet, and takes along his faithful (and bewildered) French servant Passepartout. Trailing after Fogg is Detective Inspector Fix, who believes Fogg is a bank robber escaping with an extraordinary sum. Along the journey, the beautiful Indian lady Mrs. Aouda joins up with the remarkable Mr. Fogg.

Fogg uses nearly every form of transportation known at the time to make his rapid circumnavigation of the globe: "steamships, railways, carriages, yachts, commercial vessels, a sledge and an elephant." Along the way he has extraordinary adventures: Sioux attacks, collapsed bridges, death cults, nail-biting delays (even one missed connection and the trip will fail), kidnappings, rescues, and some incredibly innovative quick-thinking. And Jules Verne offers us a pretty nifty education as Fogg and Passepartout, along with the Mrs. Aouda and the determined Inpsector Fix, make their tour of the world. Mr. Fogg may not have time to look at the sites, but the reader gets a delightful look at the world of the 1870s, from England, to India, to the Red Sea, to Japan, to Hong Kong, to San Francisco, to the American frontier.

Although "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" is Verne's greatest novel, "Around the World in 80 Days" is his breeziest and funniest. Verne's French wit and observations are sometimes screamingly funny. Take this great deadpan statement from the train trip across the U.S.: "Given the carefree attitude of the Americans, you can be sure that when they start getting cautious, then there really is cause for concern." Even the chapter titles are often hilarious: "Phileas Fogg travels the whole length of the wonderful valley of the Ganges without thinking it worth a look," and "Passepartout receives a lecture on Mormon history while traveling at a speed of twenty miles per hour." In Phileas Fogg, Verne created a wonderful caricature and epitome of the perfect English gentleman. Fogg is one of the great, unforgettable heroes of European literature.

If you're itching to read "Around the World in 80 Days" -- and with all its humor, adventure, romance, and information, you should be scratching yourself like crazy to read it -- or re-read it for the first time in many years, this is the edition to get. Don't let the cover fool you! This is the best translation yet published, and the notes are a great help as well.

Although Jules Verne is rightly credited with being the "father of science fiction," he was also an astute and biting social commentator. But unlike his younger contemporary H.G. Wells, whose social novels, Tono-Bungay, Ann Veronica, Kips, ...Mr. Polly, etc., are set apart from his science fiction, Verne wrote his social novels within the context of his celebrated Extraordinary Voyages. In his 1895 novel The Floating Island Verne utilized the premise that worked so well in his most popular works. In such thrillers as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Robur the Conqueror, and Master of the World, to name just a few, a marvelous craft is invented by a rich and eccentric misanthrope, who tries to force world leaders to end their destructive ways-or else. His ship is inadvertently boarded by outsiders who are immediately impressed by the ingenious captain and his marvelous craft, and the trouble begins.

In The Floating Island a group of traveling French string musicians, who call themselves The Quartette Party, are on their way to San Diego to give a concert. Somehow they get lost in Southern California, but are rescued by a stranger named Calistus Munbar. They soon arrive in a place called Madeleine Bay and discover to their consternation that they've boarded an enormous vessel, believing they were still on land, on its way across the Pacific Ocean. Indignant at first, they agree to stay aboard for a year, entertain, and receive a handsome reward at tour's end.

Constructed by a group of American millionaires who'd formed a venture called The Floating Island Company, of Madeleine Bay, California, Floating Island is an iron vessel made of thousands of caissons and metal slabs, held together by millions of rivets. It is oval shaped, four-and-a-half miles long, three miles wide, with a circumference of about eleven miles. It is impervious to inclement weather or artillery barrage; but subject to piratical attacks and plunder. Little food is grown in its shallow deck soil; so most sustenance is imported. Communication with the mainland via telephone and telegraph. Powered by huge dynamos, it travels at a speed of eight knots an hour; thus taking up to a year to circumnavigate the Pacific. Floating Island is a veritable industrial wonder and supreme achievement. Here all material cares are banished and most labor eliminated. The rich simply rest, cruise and sightsee. Verne takes the envious reader to Hawaii, the Marquesas, Tahiti, Tonga and several other archipelagoes. But this "the pearl of the Pacific" and its population, most of them living in its capitol, Milliard City, are a quarrelling lot divided by their loyalty to two rival leaders. One is named Jem Tankerdon, the other Nat Coverly, and their dislike for one another is intense. One favors making Floating Island an industrial enterprise, the other a rural environment. The two factions refer to themselves as either the Starboardites or the Larboardites. This mutual and volatile enmity naturally leads to the novel's spectacular climax.

The Floating Island is obviously a Jules Verne satire of late 19th century American life; our Gilded Age. Earlier in the century the Frenchman viewed this country as a great nation with the potential to do wonderful things for humanity. But by the 1890s, in Verne's view, it had become a nation populated by greedy industrialist whose extravagant lifestyles separated them from a vast underclass-the majority of the population. The friction between the Starboardites and the Larboardites recalls our Civil War conflict. And Verne prophesied that rampant industrialization would destroy society as we know it. "When a journey begins badly it rarely ends well," Verne hints in the opening sentence of The Floating Island. As in most Verne novels the characters are a bit flat or comical, but the action is always sustained and his prophetic gifts amazing. Though somewhat lengthy, with several pointless and dragging scenes, this is nonetheless a vastly entertaining novel from the pen of a man who continues to surprise and thrill those of us who still marvel at his uncanny vision.

Having read 13 other books by Jules Verne, most of which are considered classics, I went into this lesser known novel with high expectations. Simply put, FLOATING ISLAND sunk, excuse me, stunk. It goes on and on about nothing. The reader follows four French musicians as they find themselves on a large manmade floating island in the Pacific Ocean. As the story goes along they visit island chain after island chain. In typical Verne fashion there are endless details and descriptions of the islands they visit. Unfortunately, that is pretty much all the book is about, describing islands and their inhabitants. There is a plot buried in there somewhere which features the observations of the musicians, and the social structure and events of the island's inhabitants. There is a good bit of social commentary by Verne to be found late in this novel as the island's inhabitants begin to argue and the island is split politically and socially. Unfortunately, there is too little excitement and too little plot to save this sinking ship.

I disagree with statements that say that the book is dull and uneventful. It is true that it is not the best novel written by Jules Verne, but it is still interesting. It has a scientific element in it (the idea of a ship-like structure that is about the size of a small island is not too far-fetched), characters who you can identify with or find interesting, cultural and anthropological insights into various islands in the Pacific Ocean, humor and social satire. In fact, I would rank it higher than most of the books in the bookstores' Science Fiction section.

I came accross this book not in its orginal format but thru a translation in 'MARATHI' (An Indian Language) by 'Bha. RA. BHAGWAT'. This too some 20 years back. Since then I am trying to find a copy.

Its a story of a group of people who hitch a ride on a comet and go accross the planetory system , and in due course return back to earth.

Although, it may sound quite out of date now , there is some sceintefic basis to many of the trick used by these people.

Verne also dwels upon behaviours of people trapped on a journey of no return, though it should be treated with a vintage flavour. All in all, its a flight of imagination wich will take you hours of enjoyment.

As with another reviewer, nostalgic recollection of the great Classics Illustrated Comic version of Off on a Comet prompted me to get the original from the library. Alas, Off on a Comet begins at a point near the end of the Classics Comics plot. Turns out all the good parts are in part one of Hector Servadac, called To the Sun. The library found me a volume called "The Space Novels of Jules Verne" (Dover publications, 1960) which contains both To the Sun? and Off on a Comet. Sometimes these are called Hector Servadac: Part One and Hector Servadac: Part Two, respectively.

I became interested in Off On A Comet through the old Classics Comics version, and I was able to track it down once in the late 1970's; this book is exceedingly rare. It concerns the travels of a French foreign legionnaire, his sidekick, and various others carried off on a comet which sideswipes the earth in the 1800's. This "comet" is a small, planetiod-like world with atmosphere, land, and ocean. The journey is utterly unbelievable in the light of present knowledge, but Verne is as scientifically correct relative to the knowledge of his day as he could be. Before the travelers are redeposited on the earth in another grazing collision, the comet's eccentric orbit carries them near Venus and Mars, causing them to suffer through terrible extremes of climate. Verne delights in the ability of human ingenuity to overdome obstacles, conflicts, and deprivation as they explore and edure their temporary home. The flights of imagination involved are remarkable and the characterizations are good. I was, however, surprised at the vicious anti-Semitism evident in the characters and the narrative. This will be an enormous problem for many readers, and is a major flaw in an otherwise superb work

The number of misspelled and missing words in this book make it very hard to read at times.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story and will try to find a better copy.

I haven't read this yet, but I thought people might like to know that this is a sequel to the only novel of Edgar Allen Poe. H.P. Lovecraft also wrote a sequel and so, in his way, did Rudy Rucker. The rating is how I feel about Verne in general (I've read some 40 or so books of his) and because this system won't accept a review without a rating.

Phileas Fogg makes a bet that he can travel around the world in eighty days. Unfortunately, a London bank is robbed on the same day Mr. Fogg makes this bet. He leaves London with his servant Passepartout and they begin their eighty day journey. They run into many obstacles along the way, but Phileas remains calm and it always seems to work out.
Detective Fix follows Phileas and Passepartout around the world because he believes he is the person who robbed the bank in London. He is not able to arrest him because he doesn't have an arrest warrant and then when he finally gets one, he is in America. He finally arrests Phileas at the end of the journey. This arrests makes Phileas miss the bet deadline. Passepartout saves the day again, but you'll have to read the book to find out how.
I thought this was an interesting book, although it was difficult to read in some parts. It was fun to see how Phileas was going to get out of each situation so his trip wouldn't be delayed. I think Jules Verne could have given Phileas a little more emotion and not make him so bland at times.
Some of the book was difficult to understand because it was written in 1872 and Jules Verne talked about people and places that I didn't know.

I read this good book, here in Brazil.This good book was writen more than 120 years ago.And this book remains fun and easy to read.The defects of this book is to be strange, for today's standards.Even being a fiction, this boook is also a good description of life in XIX Century.

This is the first of two volumes of the "Voyages and Adventures of Captain Hatteras". Sometimes it is called "The English at the North Pole". It was first published in magazine form between March 20th, 1864 and December 5th of 1865, and in Book form on May 4th, 1866. Together with "The Desert of Ice" it forms the second adventure story by Jules Verne.

This book does not stand on its own. The start is very good, as a mysterious person arranges for a boat to be built and a crew to be assembled with himself as captain. Orders are given to set sail before the Captain appears, and the crew are left wondering if the Captain will ever appear. Eventually that issue is resolved, and at that point the story becomes fairly repetitive. The crew is left to face the same challenges over and over. Some issues, such as mirages, and the discussion of wintering appear several times. The latter even occurs in June or earlier, which seems absurdly early in the year.

There are some major issues which appear over and over as well, such as the need for fuel to battle the cold, potential mutiny, and the health of the crew. Unfortunately, the root cause for all the issues is the same in every case, and that is attempting to survive in the arctic region. As a result, the story seems to bog down for quite a while. Near the end of this book it picks up again, as the crew is driven to attempt a desperate trip across the ice to find coal for fuel. It ends in a cliff hanger, which makes reading the second volume a must.

There are some entertaining parts of this book, and some wonderful characters. However, overall this does not measure up to some of Verne's other books.

This is one of my top ten of all time favorite books. It is pure Jules Verne. If you liked From The Earth To The Moon or The Mysterious Island, you will like this, if not love it. The characters are so well portrayed, you will feel strong attachments and by the end of the book their success and failure will be perfect. Don't pass this up.

The Spanish J. J. Benitez is an ambiguous writer. He certainly did an interesting work showing us what would be "Verne's point of view" of his own life.
On the other hand, the book is full of mysterious and esoteric thinkings from the author that are (at least) hard to believe. Benitez describes "amazing findings" but proves no one. Maybe Mr. Benitez should not take himself as the only one that knows the "hidden true" of every subject and so he could give us more persuasive stories...

A must read; at least the introduction! No doubt about it Jules Verne was not a common writer but an author who had a knowledge that goes beyond common people. His exact and amazing "prophecies" were not a result of good luck, but a deep study and knowledge of secret sciences such as numerology. Benitez takes us by hand trough the magnificent discovery he did on Jules Verne life and death and still leaves us uncertain on how he discovered Jules Vernes' "confessions". His confessions, as Verne called them, are a complete and exact narration of his life, his personal attitude towards life, and his inner thoughts on himself. Written in 1st person throughout the hole book Jules Verne is actually telling us the story of his life and how people always had a misconception about him because even he was an extremely famous person, besides the father-son relation he had with his publisher he had nothing else. A very interesting book that shows us how nobody can go against his own destiny but accept it and live with it the best as possible.

Verne is noted as an author who based his works on the most accurate scientific information of his day. That is why his material is classic "science" fiction. Right from the start Mr. Andersen demonstrates that his understanding to science is woefully lacking. He has his protagonist, a young Andre Nemo, breathing underwater through a long tube. Anyone with any exposure to the history of diving knows that the pressure of the water prevents a person from sucking air through a tube if the tube is longer that a few feet. It is disappointing when the author doesn't even do the most basic home work on his subject. If you liked Verne's attention to scientific detail, steer clear of Andersen!

The novel was amusing enough to complete but nothing great. It struck me as a sort of Disney version of Verne's characters and would probably make a fairly decent film for them. I haven't read the Jules Verne novels in years so I can't compare K.J. Anderson's story line to the Verne novels accurately. What this novel did do was spark an interest in me to go back to the original stories and reread them. For that alone I think the novel was worth reading.

This book is nice and imaginative. I imagine I would appreciate it more if I was more familiar with Jules Verne.

I would like to clear some of the blame being put on this book and its author. First of all this is a very emotional book. It doesn't have to be scientific to be a good book, a lot of books aren't. Besides, this book was only written based on Captain Nemo. It doesn't have to be a complete replica of him. That would be really boring and no writer is skilled enough to do that. The book itself is action packed, from truculant pirates to moonstruck lovers. The book fits very well with a Disney Film, as some of the other people have said. Yes, and that's one of the aspects that make this a great book. If one does not know much about the real Captain Nemo then this is an extremely entertaining book for a person to read. The action is very fast-paced. Some people may not like it. But it definitely has its entertainment values in it. You may not be able to put it down once you start reading this outstanding book.

Okay- of all the books I have reviewed on Amazon this one seems to have generated one of the widest spectrum of reactions that I have seen yet. I believe the explanation for this really has to do with the readers expectations. If you read this book with the expectation of encountering a scientifically and historically accurate novel, then yes you would be likely to discount this as a piece of drivel. If, however, you were looking for a swashbuckling adventure story that captures the style and essence of Jules Verne than, like myself, you probably had a ball with this book.

Based upon the concept that Captain Nemo was a real person and the inspiration for many of Jules Verne's novels, this story is nothing more than a swashbuckling, rollicking adventure tale with a strong heroine included that is very reminiscent of the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. The closest comparison I can think of for these novels is the Wold Newton Universe created by Philip Jose Farmer. Like those books this story incorporates as much as possible from the time period and world of Jules Verne. Elements of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Mysterious Island, From the Earth to the Moon, and Around the World in 80 Days (among others)are interwoven into the plot line of this book. By adding real-life characters such as Alexander Dumas and elements of the Crimean War Kevin Anderson gives this book a fine sense of the time period in which the novel takes place.

In conclusion if you are looking for an in-depth, scientifically accurate portrayal of Jules Verne or Captain Nemo than you probably should not read this book. If you are looking for a tremendous adventure story in the tradition of and featuring many of the scenarios portrayed in Jules Verne's novels than I think you will enjoy Nemo as much as I did.