Journey to the Centre of the Earth (fiction)
Jules Verne (1864)

THE A5 BOOK REVIEW

One of Jules Verne’s more popular books is the science fiction novel Journey to the Center of the Earth, published in 1864.  German professor Otto Lidenbrock and his nephew Axel discover a code that leads to a secret passage through volcanic tubes that go into the center of the Earth.   They travel to Iceland where they descend, accompanied by a guide Hans, into a volcano that leads them to a beautiful new world, full of stunning caverns, prehistoric plants and animals, and dangerous storms.  The group, after many adventures, escapes by coming to the surface through the Stromboli volcano in Italy.  Unlike some of Verne’s other books, most of the scientific concepts about the interior of the Earth have been disproved, but it still entertains, definitely a worthwhile read for science fiction and Jules Verne fans.
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OTHER A5 RECOMMENDED TRAVEL BOOKS - JULES VERNE

Jules Verne (1825-1908) was a well-known French novelist and playwright, best known for his stories of adventure and as someone who is sometimes credited as the true originator of science fiction.  His best known novels include Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869), and of course for the great travel book Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).  Click here to learn more about Jules Verne.

GREAT QUOTES:

“Science, my boy, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.”
- Jules Verne, Journey to the Centre of the Earth

“This lucid explanation of the phenomena we had witnessed appeared to me quite satisfactory. However great and mighty the marvels of nature may seem to us, they are always to be explained by physical reasons. Everything is subordinate to some great law of nature.”
- Jules Verne, Journey to the Centre of the Earth

INTERESTING LINKS:

  • ​The book has been an important part of popular culture throughout the years, inspiring a number of feature films, television series and specials, theater productions, and even some theme park rides.  Films adapted from the book include a movie in 1959 that closely followed the story, another movie in 1989 that only took the title and general idea, and a 3-D film in 2008 starring Brendan Frasier that was positioned as a sequel to the original book.
  • Read the interesting article from Oceanleadership.org on whether this kind of journey could really happen.  Spoiler alert - there is some interesting science getting us closer, but no, not yet.​

THE 2008 MOVIE