Around the World in Eighty Days [Paperback]

"Around the World in 80 Days" was first published in book form in 1973, and quickly became a worldwide bestseller. Jules Verne is today considered principally a science-fiction writer, but many of his books were straightforward travelogues. This novel takes the travelogue concept to its extreme, sending the hero on a blistering tour of the world.

And what a hero! Phileas Fogg, a British gentleman and member of the Reform Club, who lives his life in exact measurements, takes a bet at his club that he cannot travel around the world along a designated route in less than eighty days. Fogg takes the bet, and takes along his faithful (and bewildered) French servant Passepartout. Trailing after Fogg is Detective Inspector Fix, who believes Fogg is a bank robber escaping with an extraordinary sum. Along the journey, the beautiful Indian lady Mrs. Aouda joins up with the remarkable Mr. Fogg.

Fogg uses nearly every form of transportation known at the time to make his rapid circumnavigation of the globe: "steamships, railways, carriages, yachts, commercial vessels, a sledge and an elephant." Along the way he has extraordinary adventures: Sioux attacks, collapsed bridges, death cults, nail-biting delays (even one missed connection and the trip will fail), kidnappings, rescues, and some incredibly innovative quick-thinking. And Jules Verne offers us a pretty nifty education as Fogg and Passepartout, along with the Mrs. Aouda and the determined Inpsector Fix, make their tour of the world. Mr. Fogg may not have time to look at the sites, but the reader gets a delightful look at the world of the 1870s, from England, to India, to the Red Sea, to Japan, to Hong Kong, to San Francisco, to the American frontier.

Although "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" is Verne's greatest novel, "Around the World in 80 Days" is his breeziest and funniest. Verne's French wit and observations are sometimes screamingly funny. Take this great deadpan statement from the train trip across the U.S.: "Given the carefree attitude of the Americans, you can be sure that when they start getting cautious, then there really is cause for concern." Even the chapter titles are often hilarious: "Phileas Fogg travels the whole length of the wonderful valley of the Ganges without thinking it worth a look," and "Passepartout receives a lecture on Mormon history while traveling at a speed of twenty miles per hour." In Phileas Fogg, Verne created a wonderful caricature and epitome of the perfect English gentleman. Fogg is one of the great, unforgettable heroes of European literature.

If you're itching to read "Around the World in 80 Days" -- and with all its humor, adventure, romance, and information, you should be scratching yourself like crazy to read it -- or re-read it for the first time in many years, this is the edition to get. Don't let the cover fool you! This is the best translation yet published, and the notes are a great help as well.