From the Earth to the Moon
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Product Description
Product Description
Written almost a century before the daring flights of the astronauts, Jules Verne’s prophetic novel of man’s race to the stars is a classic adventure tale enlivened by broad satire and scientific acumen.
When the members of the elite Baltimore Gun Club find themselves lacking any urgent assignments at the close of the Civil War, their president, Impey Barbicane, proposes that they build a gun big enough to launch a rocket to the moon. But when Barbicane’s adversary places a huge wager that the project will fail and a daring volunteer elevates the mission to a “manned” flight, one man’s dream turns into an international space race.
A story of rip-roaring action, humor, and wild imagination, From the Earth to the Moon is as uncanny in its accuracy and as filled with authentic detail and startling immediacy as Verne’s timeless masterpieces 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in Eighty Days.
When the members of the elite Baltimore Gun Club find themselves lacking any urgent assignments at the close of the Civil War, their president, Impey Barbicane, proposes that they build a gun big enough to launch a rocket to the moon. But when Barbicane’s adversary places a huge wager that the project will fail and a daring volunteer elevates the mission to a “manned” flight, one man’s dream turns into an international space race.
A story of rip-roaring action, humor, and wild imagination, From the Earth to the Moon is as uncanny in its accuracy and as filled with authentic detail and startling immediacy as Verne’s timeless masterpieces 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in Eighty Days.
About the Author
Jules Verne studied law but began writing stories and working in theatre as well. When Verne's father discovered his son was writing, he promptly withdrew his financial support. Verne then worked as a stockbroker.His wife encouraged him to pursue his writing, and he became acquainted with Pierre-Jules Hetzel, an important French publisher. Hetzel helped improve Verne's writings, which until then had been repeatedly rejected by other publishers. He died a wealthy man in 1905.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
While I naturally have long admired Jules Verne for his outstanding scientific vision and prodigious talent as a writer, I really had no idea that he could also write in such an entertaining and humorous fashion as revealed in this short novel. My memories of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea consist to a large degree of stretches of pages devoted to pure scientific language that could be hard to get through, but this book is an easy read full of action and laugh-out-loud commentary. Don't get me wrong, though--the science is here, and Verne goes into a lot of details concerning the project from conception to reality, walking us through all of the steps involved in constructing the cannon and its projectile. Surely, though, Verne knew that the very idea of launching men to the moon via a superhuge cannon was not really an idea that could work; as such, he lets the story and especially his characterizations of the main players in the drama, take center stage over the science. What we end up with is a study of sorts of the American character, a tribute to the power of imagination and dreaming, the glorification of science, and a very funny story about some really amazing characters.
I can not begin to relate the number of truly humorous anecdotes and observations filling the pages of this story. Barbicane, J. T. Maston, and Michel Ardan are quite memorable characters, and their acts and exploits will entertain you to no end. Verne introduces subtle but hilarious remarks and observations throughout the entire book that will make you laugh out loud. If the idea of hard scientific theorizing has scared you away from Verne, pick this book up and be wholly entertained. I would recommend, though, that you pick up a copy that also contains the sequel, Round the Moon. This first book essentially culminates in the firing of the men into space inside the projectile, and you will certainly want to read the story of what happens to the men afterward. I now have to find a copy of the second book, so I urge others to save yourselves time and buy both stories in one package.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I have recently started to read Verne's novels and have found them to be very entertaining indeed. Although From the Earth to the Moon is not perhaps as well written as Around the World In Eighty Days, or Twenty thousand Leagues Under The Sea, it is still worth dipping into. The characterisation is not brilliant, but the story itself is entertaining. Anyone who is a fan of the birth of science fiction as a genre should read this book.
Verne attempts to explain exactly how to send a group of men to the moon with scientific reasoning. It is fascinating reading about the various opinions that existed at the time regarding who inhabited the moon, what it was made of and various other strange questions that we take for granted nowadays.
The ending to the novel was not what I expected and should leave the reader satisfied. A charming read.
Verne attempts to explain exactly how to send a group of men to the moon with scientific reasoning. It is fascinating reading about the various opinions that existed at the time regarding who inhabited the moon, what it was made of and various other strange questions that we take for granted nowadays.
The ending to the novel was not what I expected and should leave the reader satisfied. A charming read.
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Apparently considered a poorer relation to the more famous 20,000 Leagues and Around the World in 80 Days, I found this at least as enjoyable to read. It moved along at quite a pace, and although the technical details meant that it read a bit like a maths book for a few pages early on and to some, it could be considered a bit 'Boy's Own', some amusing (by today's standards) historical facts and general action, meant that by the end, I was reading it faster and with some excitement. I wish I had read it when I was at school. Recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Imaginative, but bland
So much of the beginning of the book reads like a manual that it is like reading the Old Testament (except that the measurements are not in cubits). Read more
Published 5 months ago by G. Heywood
Satire,Science and Spectacle.
This from 1865,and is a humorous story of science,and a satire of militarism.During the American Civil War,The Baltimore Gun Club is a thriving,innovative producer of artillery in... Read more
Published 14 months ago by M P Hall
Captivating, and enthralling
Theres a sick humour to this book which cannot be intended as looking back on it now much of it could be taken in a heavily satirical manner to make fun of the Cold War and the... Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2010 by F. Wight
Not as engaging as his other classics
Mostly rather dull, lacking the sense of dynamism and adventure of Verne's other classics, at least until the final third of the novel when Captain Nicholls properly joins the plot... Read more
Published on 24 Dec 2007 by John Hopper
A captivating insight into fantasy spacetravel methods
The gun club, famous for its revolutionary war machines finds itself without a war and turns its attentions to launching a manned projectile to the moon. Read more
Published on 30 July 2001
Excellent example of pragmatic use of knowledge of the time
From the Earth to the Moon is an example of hard science fiction, were, as with all Jules Verne's works, the author takes the accepted scientific knowledge of the time, and... Read more
Published on 20 Feb 2000
Preparations for a cannon shot to the moon.
This is a prophetic, both scientifically and socially, novel by Jules Verne that was first published in 1865. Read more
Published on 4 Jun 1999
Part Fiction, Part Premonition, Pure Verne
From The Earth To The Moon, and its companion, Round The Moon are seamless in storyline and meticulous in detail. Read more
Published on 28 Jan 1999
Out of this world
Texas. Florida. Both were admitted to the United States in
the same year, 1845. Two different states with comparable
communication and transportation networks, yet... Read more
the same year, 1845. Two different states with comparable
communication and transportation networks, yet... Read more
Published on 5 April 1997
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