Amazing Journeys : Five Visionary Classics

One of the best storytellers who ever lived.” — Arthur C. Clarke In one dazzling decade, French novelist Jules Verne took readers to places they’d never gone before … the age of dinosaurs … the undersea realm of Atlantis … the craters and crevices of the moon … and a whirlwind tour of the planet earth! Though he penned his unforgettable yarns in French, Verne plunked big parts of them down in America. And he himself possessed an American sassiness, nerve, and sense of humor, so Americans have returned the compliment: we’ve released dozens of Hollywood films based on his astonishing tales, and we’ve created the USS Nautilus, the NASA space missions, and other technological triumphs that have turned Verne’s visions into practical reality. Here are Jules Verne’s best-loved novels in one convenient omnibus volume, but with a huge difference. This book features new, accurate, accessible, and unabridged translations of these five visionary classics, translations that are complete down to the smallest substantive detail, that showcase Verne’s farseeing science with unprecedented clarity, and that capture the wit, prankishness, and showbiz flamboyance of one of literature’s leading humorists and satirists. This is a Verne almost completely unknown to Americans … yet a Verne who has an uncannily American mind-set. So these heroes and happenings are part of our heritage: Phileas Fogg chugging across the wild, wild west … the impossible underground journey of Professor Lidenbrock … the deep-sea exploits of secretive Captain Nemo … and a moon shot so realistic, it inspired U.S. astronaut Frank Borman a full century later. Jules Verne was a science buff with a showbiz background, and finally these classic stories have a translator with the same orientation: Frederick Paul Walter is one of America’s foremost Verne scholars … But he’s also a scriptwriter, broadcaster, and part-time fossil hunter. Enriched with dozens of classic illustrations, Amazing Journeys will be a family favorite in every home library.