Jules Verne was one of the first authors to venture into the Science Fiction genre during the mid to late nineteenth century. He wrote about underwater, space and air travel years before their time. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, A Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and Around the World in Eighty Days are all available for free on your Kindle or Kindle DX.
Twenty Thousand Leagues features a submarine called Nautilus that was built to look like a fish. Smart idea because this way warships are fooled into thinking it is a real fish. The top fin of the submarine was used to destroy the ships.
As modern readers, some reviewers said that Twenty Thousand Leagues was really entertaining and a surprisingly good depiction of a modern invention.
Around the World in Eighty Days is full of adventure and other crazy shenanigans. Phileas Fogg and his companion, Passepartout, set off with limited funds to make it around the world in eighty days. By completing the task, they would win a large wager. Along the way, they nearly get arrested, get attacked by Indians, and nearly lose each other through missed connections to various part of the journey. It is crazy what lengths they have to go through to make each leg of the journey. We have it easy with cars and airplanes!
Verne uses A Journey to the Centre of the Earth to education readers on life in ancient times such as the Ice Age and when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth. This book kind of reminds me of the show “Land of the Lost”, where a father and his two kids fall through a crack in the road, and end up in the dinosaur age. A Journey features Professor von Hardwigg, his nephew Harry, and their guide, Hans. The professor believe that there were tubes in volcanoes that lead to the center of the Earth. They come across many geological artifacts and other unexpected adventures. This book is said to be the most outdated of all of Verne’s books, but it still has some merit in terms of how it looks at the earlier times.
The Collected Works of Jules Verne consists of 36 novels and short stories written by the author, including the three that I just mentioned. This is a great deal, and the reviews are all really good. I like that you can have all of Verne’s works in one place.
For a little more background on Jules Verne’s life, take a look at my Kindle Screensaver Blog post.
I’ve always been a fan of the great, Jules Verne and I love being reminded of the birthday of one of the greats of science fiction in such a clever way.
The Collected Works of Jules Verne does not include all of Verne’s works. Verne wrote many more novels, including my favorite, Two Years’ Vacation, that seems not to be available anywhere:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne