The Jules Verne Extraordinary Adventures Series.

[Billsuits1]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

What I find amazing is the sheer amount of factual information (for its time) that is included within the narratives. After reading this thread, I began reading 'The Voyages of Captain Hatteras' - which describes a journey to the North Pole - in which characters recount the history of polar exploration.

I wonder how much he did and how much was provided for him and he just incorporated them into stories. I am certain he collaborators.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Billsuits1

I wonder how much he did and how much was provided for him and he just incorporated them into stories. I am certain he collaborators.

Every writer draws on the work of others, both fiction and non-fiction, in creating their own works I think. I mean Tom Clancy didn't just make up details about submarines and such when he wrote "The Hunt for Red October." He postulated a fictional event but he based it on real information that he got from reading books as well.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Billsuits1

I wonder how much he did and how much was provided for him and he just incorporated them into stories. I am certain he collaborators.

He certainly researched his books - as all good authors do.

[Billsuits1]

Originally Posted by HarryT

He certainly researched his books - as all good authors do.

I am not questioning the morality of his work process. I have no doubt he did research but that does not negate that he may have had others helping write these books. Many people have ghost writers now. Even best sellers have their name and then in smaller print with so and so on the title.

I would have to look at works that focus on him to find out more about how he wrote these. Some of the details are really specific and something I would think only a specialist would know. Like all the fish species in 20000 Leagues Under the Sea. Then all the scientific details he uses to explain things when conflicts about reality come into play.

Another thing I wonder about the time he was writing was his constant use of global coordinates. I wonder if average readers would know what these were without a reference book. Most of these stories were serialized so there was little chance to give a guide to this information in his works. Given his penchant for travel in his stories I guess readers were aware.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Billsuits1

Another thing I wonder about the time he was writing was his constant use of global coordinates. I wonder if average readers would know what these were without a reference book.

I'm sure that the average person would have understood what latitude and longitude were in the latter part of the 19th century, just as they do today. They have been around for many centuries.

[Billsuits1]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm sure that the average person would have understood what latitude and longitude were in the latter part of the 19th century, just as they do today. They have been around for many centuries.

But if someone gave you the coordinates would you be able to locate where you are on the globe without having to look it up?

In a related point, I finished The Adventures of Captain Hatteras the other day. I did not like the ending. Verne uses lots of coordinates in this book, too. I had to locate them using Google Maps.

I still am working on finishing Round the Moon.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Billsuits1

But if someone gave you the coordinates would you be able to locate where you are on the globe without having to look it up?

Not precisely, but I'd have a rough idea. Verne, though, is writing travel adventures. He presumably wants to encourage people to find out where these places are by looking on a globe, or in an atlas.

[Billsuits1]

Update:

I did not care for Round the Moon. I loved the first part though. Just finished The Steam House. Really loved it, the scenes in Imperial India, and the adventures that ensue. I read the Google Play version with original illustrations!

Now I am In Search of the Castaways. I am out of order but that is life.

[Billsuits1]

I finished In Search of the Castaways and I really enjoyed it. I thought it was well written for all the adventure in it. There were a handful of times I thought Verne had jumped the shark with the story but I really liked the ending.

Having had a lot of sea adventure in that novel I decided to sit down and enjoy a nice land adventure with The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in Africa.

[WillAdams]

Agree w/ the recommendation of the Miller/Walter Verne published by the Naval Institute Press.

Equations are easy to do in ASCII if one just uses TeX markup.

[Billsuits1]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

sadly as this sounds, I never actually read Verne. sure, we all know it from movies, comic books and so on.

so I tried to read a book by him, and went for the unorthodox, away from the spotlights. I reached about chapter 3 or 4 of An Antarctic Mistery and find out I absolutely need to go through Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym before properly reading this book. go figure...

at least I'm almost done with Poe's only published romance. which BTW, is well worth a read...

How did you like the book? It is one my favorite novels I have read. It really kept be interested in reading it. I real page turner as I wanted to know what happened next.

I often wonder what else he would have written had he lived longer.

[Billsuits1]

I finished The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in Africa. I really liked it. It was a quick read compared to In Search of the Castaways but actually better than I thought. I read on Goodreads that some people did not care for it and thought it was just a hunting story but I really enjoyed the science in the novel and the work they were doing surveying. I also liked how it ended. I would recommend this book to others.

I can't decide if I am Off on a Comet or follow Robur the Conqueror next. I just need something off the ground after this African tale.

ETA: I just realized this thread is like my own Verne book club!

[Billsuits1]

I totally loved Robur the Conqueror. I found it very interesting and was delighted to learn more about balloons and flight research in the mid 19th century. It was a quick read and very delightful. I read the online version so I could research all the people he references in the book easily. I have enjoyed the old prints with their illustrations I can not read on my Aluratek Pro easily.

All this flight reading makes Off on a Comet out of favor right now. I am also holding off on the Master of the World sequel to Robur. I think I may go read about Begum's Millions or about a sad Chinaman.

[Billsuits1]

I opted for the sad Chinaman. I read The Tribulations of a Chinaman in China. It was a difficult read for me at first because the locations and names are all hard to understand. I wish that my copy would have had a map in it. I enjoyed it though, especially learning how the Chinese wealth people use phonographs to record messages and send them to each other. In this book they record the messages on paper and send it to each other. Sounds far fetched but maybe the translation was off.

I am surprised that it has not been made into a movie. The ending read like a movie ending.

I have decided to read Off on a Comet next. I am going to read the David McKay translation from 1895 (To the Sun/Off on a Comet.)

[Billsuits1]

I finished the two part series called Off on a Comet. I read the McKay version for the first part To the Sun but I could not find the second half by the same publisher. I did a little searching and located the entire book as written by Munro in 1877 on the following website.

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/book...Servadac02.htm

It is suppose to be a a literal translation. I just downloaded it as text and put it in my reader.

The book was very good but the ending kind of left me empty. And there is some antisemitism in the novel that is kind of painful at times.

Next I am going back to South Africa for The Star of the South. Google has a free translation available for download.