1 MP3-CD (approximately 11.5 hrs.)
English (translated from French) language
Published July 28, 2008 by Tantor Audio.
French professor Pierre Aronnax and his servant join the Abraham Lincoln, an American frigate, on a mission to find and destroy a "sea-unicorn of colossal dimensions, armed not with a halberd, but with a real spur, as the armored frigates." The undersea monster is thought to be responsible for the disappearance of over 200 ships. When they encounter the "gigantic cetacean," it disables the Abraham Lincoln and knocks Professor Aronnax, his servant, and the hot-tempered harpooner Ned Land overboard. The three must cling to the beast or drown; however, they soon realize that the "beast" is really a man-made underwater vehicle. Captain Nemo captures the men and holds them prisoner on the Nautilus, his incredible submarine. The captain and his unwilling passengers thus embark on a deep-sea odyssey that stretches from the palm-strewn Indian Ocean to the frozen peril of the South Pole. But the enigmatic Nemo has a darker …
French professor Pierre Aronnax and his servant join the Abraham Lincoln, an American frigate, on a mission to find and destroy a "sea-unicorn of colossal dimensions, armed not with a halberd, but with a real spur, as the armored frigates." The undersea monster is thought to be responsible for the disappearance of over 200 ships. When they encounter the "gigantic cetacean," it disables the Abraham Lincoln and knocks Professor Aronnax, his servant, and the hot-tempered harpooner Ned Land overboard. The three must cling to the beast or drown; however, they soon realize that the "beast" is really a man-made underwater vehicle. Captain Nemo captures the men and holds them prisoner on the Nautilus, his incredible submarine. The captain and his unwilling passengers thus embark on a deep-sea odyssey that stretches from the palm-strewn Indian Ocean to the frozen peril of the South Pole. But the enigmatic Nemo has a darker purpose for his voyage: revenge on humanity. Not just a suspense-ridden drama, this classic novel, written in 1873, predicts with astonishing accuracy the advanced technology and inventions of the twentieth century, and it has inspired generations of science fiction writers.
Jules Verne sure did know a lot of different words for fish.
A classic adventure tale cataloging every fish, seaweed, and coral in the various oceans. Some of them are real.
As adventure tales go, particularly from this classic era, it's pretty good. I read it as a young teen and remember it fondly, although perhaps my fondness comes from the Classics Illustrated comic as much as from the actual text.
In honesty, it doesn't bear up as well as I'd hoped. Nemo's unexplored misandry against the M. Arronax's relentless intellectualism left me with too little satisfaction to give the story more than four stars.
Recommended, if only for the picture of what early science fiction looked like post-Frankenstein and pre-War of the Worlds.
A super cool adventure. I love reading science fiction from the 19th century. The dude does go on describing fish for paragraphs at a time though.
Ja, die Idee des U-Boots war enorm visionär. Und als Standard-Jules-Verne ist es in großen Teilen unnötig schwafelig. Andere Sachen, die hier vielleicht erfunden wurden sind Technobabble (Sodium- (Natrium-) Batterien liefern nie die benötigte Energie.) und Redshirts (zwei Besatzungsmitglieder werden aus rein dramatischen Gründen abgemurkst).
Was mich aber mehr gestört hat ist, dass es nicht zeitlos ist, sondern im 19. Jahrhundert festhängt
Der Kapitän hat sich aus der menschlichen Gesellschaft ausgeklinkt, an Bord herrscht aber immer noch strikte Klassengesellschaft. Die ganze vordere Hälfte des Boots, ca. 30 m ist für den Kapitän reserviert, und für den einen der drei Gäste, der aus der Oberschicht kam. Für die Mannschaft, ca. 20 Mann, sind ca. 5 m der Länge übrig, für essen, schlafen, Freizeit.
Und wieso versuchen die drei, Erzähler und zwei Sidekicks, nicht, sich mit Mannschaftmitgliedern anzufreunden. Zunächst, um rauszufinden, was so vor sich geht, aber dann, d’uh anfreunden. …
Ja, die Idee des U-Boots war enorm visionär. Und als Standard-Jules-Verne ist es in großen Teilen unnötig schwafelig. Andere Sachen, die hier vielleicht erfunden wurden sind Technobabble (Sodium- (Natrium-) Batterien liefern nie die benötigte Energie.) und Redshirts (zwei Besatzungsmitglieder werden aus rein dramatischen Gründen abgemurkst).
Was mich aber mehr gestört hat ist, dass es nicht zeitlos ist, sondern im 19. Jahrhundert festhängt
Der Kapitän hat sich aus der menschlichen Gesellschaft ausgeklinkt, an Bord herrscht aber immer noch strikte Klassengesellschaft. Die ganze vordere Hälfte des Boots, ca. 30 m ist für den Kapitän reserviert, und für den einen der drei Gäste, der aus der Oberschicht kam. Für die Mannschaft, ca. 20 Mann, sind ca. 5 m der Länge übrig, für essen, schlafen, Freizeit.
Und wieso versuchen die drei, Erzähler und zwei Sidekicks, nicht, sich mit Mannschaftmitgliedern anzufreunden. Zunächst, um rauszufinden, was so vor sich geht, aber dann, d’uh anfreunden. Sie finden in 10 Monaten nicht einmal heraus, welche Sprache an Bord gesprochen wird.
Verne's narration is quite old-fashioned (might be the translation) and filled with modern inventions at the same time. I kept thinking "they knew about this-and-that back then? There was that kind of technology?" all through the book. It's a bit like reading todays sci-fi from a 200 years into the future point of view.
The narration had some lengths and some bits were outright boring. And seriously, what's up with the ending? Was there a deadline to meet? Or a simple "whatever" attitude? It was so abrupt and deus ex machina I don't even know how to complain about it.
Extraordinary. Exciting plot. The book provides a lot of knowledge about seas on the world, despite some inaccuracy.
Extraordinary. Exciting plot. The book provides a lot of knowledge about seas on the world, despite some inaccuracy.
This reads more like a boring list of places they went than an actual story. We went there and then there and then we went by that island...
I don’t know why I liked this one as a kid.
Having thought I knew this story for years after so many cultural references, it was entirely fresh to me reading the original.
I recommend we all go read the stories we think we know, think I'll try a turn at Gulliver's Travels and follow up with some Lewis Carrol.
Another great Dunk and Egg tale. This time with significantly more history and royals!
Definitely one of the classics of science fiction. I grabbed this one in the summer of 1998 along with a few other books. By the way, if all you know is the Disney movie, put that aside when you read this. Much better and a richer tale.
