Product Description

Jules Verne’s career as a novelist began in 1863, when he struck a new vein in fiction—stories that combined popular science and exploration. In Around the World in Eighty Days, Phileas Fogg rashly bets his companions £20,000 that he can travel around the entire globe in just eighty days—and he is determined not to lose. Breaking the well-established routine of his daily life, the reserved Englishman immediately sets off for Dover, accompanied by his hot-blooded French manservant, Passepartout. Traveling by train, steamship, sailboat, sledge, and even elephant, they must overcome storms, kidnappings, natural disasters, Sioux attacks, and the dogged Inspector Fix of Scotland Yard to win the extraordinary wager. Combining exploration, adventure, and a thrilling race against time, Around the World in Eighty Days gripped audiences upon its publication and remains hugely popular to this day.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5987 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-25
• Original language: French
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
In 1863, Jules Verne (1828-1905) published Five Weeks in a Balloon, and struck a new vein in fiction - stories that combined popular science and exploration. He wrote 54 novels in the Extraordinary Voyages series.

Customer Reviews

Slight but amusing
Jules Verne's tale of an English gentleman's bet that he can circumnavigate the world in 80 days is a light and readable adventure. Strangely the weakest sections seem to be the actual travelogue descriptions of foreign lands, which tend to be rather dry and uninvolving, and the hero Phileas Fogg manages to solve most of the problems that come his way simply by throwing vast amounts of money at them. What makes the book more enjoyable is the relationship between the archly reserved Englishman Fogg, and his passionate French manservant Passepartout, and Verne keeps a strong vein of humour running throughout the book. I can't in all honesty say this novel has stood the test of time as a brilliant piece of literature, but as a fun little tongue-in-cheek adventure this is still an enjoyable read.

Excellent
Having taken an interest in Michael Palin's documentary series and subsequent book based on this title, I was curious to read the original. This is a fantastic story, much more entertaining than any modern day adaptations, and gripping right to the end. I'd thoroughly recommend this book!

A romantic view of Englishmen
Considering this is written by An frenchman it is extremely complimentary of Englishmen. Due to the personality of the main character ( Phileas Fogg ) a great deal of elaboration isn`t needed. Quite lengthy sections of journey can indeed be glossed over in a single page because once the main charater is established you appreciate the fact that there is no need for sentimentalities. The fast pace of the book makes for a fairly short read but also keeps up the suspense right to near the last chapter, for Verne to have elaborated beyond the level he did would have destroyed the continuity of what is essentially a race. This book is most interesting from the point of view of being an accurate account of methods of transport contemporary with the time of writing and there is much to be learnt about the age of steam, an age since superceeded by the jet engine. This book was certainly worth the price I payed for it and its fast pace perfectly suited my attention span.