If you own Rick Wakeman's Piece, You gotta have this.

books:


	• Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Bantam Classics) Jules Verne Bantam, 1991 - 240 pages average customer review:based on 123 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Brilliant read if you can leave your knowledge behind

It had been many years since I had read a Jules Verne novel, and to be honest, I couldn't recall his skill as a writer at all. When I dug this book off of my bookshelf I admit, I was simply bored and looking for something mindless to read while the children fought over gluing cotton balls to construction paper.

I admit that it took my mind a while to re-acclimate to the writing style of the time, not that it was difficult to read, it was just far too easy to skim. So, bringing my mind to a screeching halt, I sat down and began to truly read this wonderful novel. Let me begin with saying that the science in the novel is extremely outdated but at the time of it's writing, was plausible. If you can get your mind past the huge hurtle of your current scientific knowledge, you can appreciate this book for what it is: a brilliant science fiction/adventure novel. The conventions of the time include misunderstandings of the makeup of the earth, and the propensity to marry one's own cousins.

The book is written in the form of a diary at times, and a retelling at times, of events that had passed previously. The voice of the book is the character Harry, nephew and assistant to Professor Von Hardwigg. The novel begins with the professor's discovery of a secret parchment which when decoded gives the location that a previous explorer used to enter the bowels of the earth. The immediately set out to follow in the footsteps of this great explorer of centuries before. Joining them is Hans, the apparent superman of Iceland. He never complains, rarely talks, and saves the lives of those around him on a regular basis. I cannot help but to believe that this is Verne's ideal man, his "Adonis" if you will. The Professor, though he loves Harry, is a closet ADHD case hidden behind a brilliant and stubborn mind. There is great adoration for his nephew, on those occasions when he stops moving or talking long enough to notice him. Harry, who is telling the story, is easily written off as a coward; however he is so much more than that if you take into account the beliefs of the time. He is following his uncle on a dangerous journey into the unknown to a place he does not even believe exists. (Harry's beliefs are far closer to the reality that we understand, however in this novel they are all completely incorrect)

Upon entering the depths of the earth many hardships and terrors await the three, ranging from dehydration, starvation, dinosaurs, many falls, getting separated, raging storms on underground seas and volcanic eruptions. I won't go into great detail suffice to say that the movie, though highly entertaining, does no justice to this story. Spray painted iguanas with horns are far from what is described in this book. If you have spare time on you hands, this is an excellent read and I would highly recommend it to anyone. There is a reason that this is considered "Literature."

4 of 5 stars.

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Another Wonderful Adventure by Jules Verne

Note: Some immature Mormon has been slamming my reviews because I wrote some negative reviews of books attempting to defend the Book of Mormon.

So your "helpful" votes are greatly appreciated. A short review is not necessarily a bad review if it leads you to a great novel. I've just noted the general theme. Thanks

A group of adventures with an old map travel to Iceland and find a cave. They enter the cave and follow a path to the center of the earth, where they find an inner world of strange creatures. Just suspend your belief, and sit back an enjoy this wonderful tale. I experience it first as a movie way back in 1960. Later, I read the novel. Don't miss it.

The concept of a hollow earth was not new in Jules Verne's day (mid-1800s). Its most prominent advocate was Capt. John Cleave Symmes, who advanced the theory in about 1818. Symmes was so convincing that in the 1820s he got twenty-five members of the United States Congress to vote to fund an expedition to the North Pole, where they would enter the center of the earth through a 4,000-mile-wide cavity in the earth.

It was then believed that the Lost Tribes of Israel lived on the North Pole behind a wall of ice. This theory found its way into the revelations of Joseph Smith, who in the Book of Mormon and later, said that the Lost Tribes would break down the ice and return from the "north countries."

Also, check out "At the Earth's Core," by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Land of Terror (Bison Frontiers of Imagination)

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Verne fails to reach his potential in this one

This book starts off strong with the Verne's classic style and wit. The initial pages are entertaining, fast-paced and set the premise for a potentially wonderful novel. However, the story quickly slows down as preparations for the trip take entirely too long. In the version I read, the actual journey doesn't begin until page 90. Then, once the journey begins, it is rather uneventful. Verne also puts in too much geological information for the average reader to appreciate. It becomes quite tedious reading about the content of various mineral deposits, composition of the substrata of the earth, etc. While some such material is interesting, Verne goes over the top. This novel fails to display the extent of Verne's talents. For a better taste of his writings, I would recommend "Around the World in 80 Days" or, if you can digest a much longer work, "The Mysterious Island."

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If you own Rick Wakeman's Piece, You gotta have this.

Go get the music CD "Journey To The Center Of The Earth" by Rick Wakeman right after you read this great little book by Jules Verne. You won't be sorry.

A fine Jules Verne read.

Journey To the Center of the Earth was always one of my favorite movies and after all these years, I finally read the book. The book is not like the movie at all. Honestly, I liked the movie better however that is not to say I was in any way disappointed with the book. It moved along quickly and drew me in such that I couldn't put it down and so read it in one sitting. A geologist, his eager young nephew and an Icelandic guide make their way to the earth's core following the footsteps of a previous mysterious explorer into the dark subterranean world of weird plants, animals, rocks and unforeseen dangers. There was no woman with them as in the movie but a female companion might have spiced it up a bit. The Icelander didn't have a pet duck along as in the movie but he was an indispensible partner in the venture. All in all, it was adventurous and fun and worth my time. I enjoyed it very much. Sure glad I finally read the book!
Betsy

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

As irascible scholar Professor Lidenbrock pores over a rare Icelandic tome, he discovers a scrap of parchment with cryptic writing tucked away between the ancient pages. And when his nephew, Axel, finally breaks the writing?s secret code, he learns of a hidden underground passageway that may lead deep into the center of the earth.

Despite Axel?s misgivings, he and the obsessed Lidenbrock travel to Iceland and, with a guide named Hans, set out on a perilous expedition in the course of which the trio will encounter an extraordinary new world of extinct yet living species, an underground sea, and gigantic, battling monsters.

Filled with the authentic detail and startling immediacy Jules Verne labored to bring to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in Eighty Days, Journey to the Center of the Earth is the fantastic adventure that secured Verne?s reputation as the premier writer of speculative fiction.

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