Journey to the Centre of the Earth

by Jules Verne

“We are about to begin an extraordinary journey,” said Professor Lidenbrock, “nothing less than an expedition to the centre of the earth!” With those words the professor, his nephew Axel and their guide Hans climbed down into an extinct volcano crater, and began an amazing subterranean odyssey. Living examples of extinct monsters, an underground ocean and a terrifying journey on the back of an erupting volcano are all part of Jules Verne’s most extraordinary epic of science fiction.

Genres: Classics, Science Fiction, Fiction, Adventure, Fantasy, Novels, Audiobook

127 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2011

About the author

Novels of French writer Jules Gabriel Verne, considered the founder of modern science fiction, include Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).

This author who pioneered the genre. People best know him for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870).

Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before people invented navigable aircraft and practical submarines and devised any means of spacecraft. He ranks behind Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie as the second most translated author of all time. People made his prominent films. People often refer to Verne alongside Herbert George Wells as the "father of science fiction."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_V...

Reviews

[Leo . · Rating 5 out of 5]

I strongly recommend this book if you like reading the classics. Jules Verne is one of my favourite authors.🐯👍

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much to love about this. It’s a geologist’s dream, so wonderfully researched and rich in scientific detail. And it’s one of the most amazing adventures ever written. It’s a 4.5* - only slight annoyance is the abject cowardice of the narrator. Yes I know it’s a device, but it was still annoying. Wonderful though. One of the classic adventure stories. My favourite Verne.

[James Morpurgo · Rating 3 out of 5]

First time reading Jules Verne, this was more accessible than I was expecting and was in general a good fun adventure.

The science and geological understanding at the time of writing is way off but wasn't too difficult to put that aside and just embrace the spirit of adventure.

Verne has been a bucket list author that I've been ashamed to have not read until now, I will certainly be reading some other works in the future....

[James Haigh-Kenworthy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can appreciate Jules Verne being revered as a writer during his time, as one of the pioneers of the new sci-fi genre, and how groundbreaking this book actually was. Reading it now however, it's all a bit of a mess and nothing really happens. Read it if you're bored, but even then just pick something else.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt nostalgic looking at the book cover so I devoured the book in a single sitting.
I enjoyed this book, recalled the movie, recalled those days when I read the book the first time.

The Prof & Axel. xD

Re-reading these classics always make me happy!!!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

My second reading of this “voyage extraordinaire.” I sought out the Baldick translation. No one has been more butchered in translation than poor Verne for some reason. I’ve compared passages in every English version, and despite needless inaccuracies and omissions I think this one is the most faithful. Beware of any new editions (or ebooks that can be updated) of the Baldick translation, since Penguin appears to be letting their hateful sensitivity readers graze on their backlist now.

Published in 1864, this novel seems like an outlier when you look at the cluster of fantastic adventures that sprouted decades later. The kind of tale Verne tells is so crowd-pleasing I’m surprised the imitations didn’t start immediately. But where did it come from? Were there any books like this before? I don’t mean science fiction. That’s not the main charm here and, for what it’s worth, from my hasty glance through his bio, it seems Verne considered his works “novels of science,” by which he meant a way to bring his interests in the field into the higher realm of art (his publisher had conceived of the Extraordinary Voyages series as a way to make learning more palatable for the readers of his family magazine). And indeed Verne is especially good at the poetry of being immured within walls five miles thick, buried deep under an ocean where at that moment ships may be tossing around in a storm, of the profound silence of this stony tomb. It’s funny that his best book (that I’ve read) concerns his least interesting topic: rocks.

I know some of Verne’s influences: Defoe, Hugo plays, Frankenstein possibly, ETA Hoffmann, Fennimore Cooper. I know he helped start the travel writing genre. But, as far as I know, none of these accounts for the particular armchair romance-quality of this book. Some of the traits I’m struggling to describe:

—The snug Old World opening scenes that make such a nice contrast to the wild journey to come.

—The cryptogram.

—The mountain peak whose shadow at a certain hour in the year points out the entrance to the center of the earth.

—The scientist-adventurers, with their instruments and pistols. There’s the eccentric professor, his lovesick nephew, who names a discovery after his girl back home, and their superhuman guide the silent Swede (who accepts his pay every Saturday, no matter what the outlandish conditions).





Even the little Italian boy whom they encounter at the end, after washing back up to civilization, feels like a trope now recycled innumerable times.

After the introductory chapters, a good third of the book is basically a travelogue, researched by the author entirely from books. It’s mostly uneventful, yet with some striking details here and there about this impoverished time in Iceland’s history. However mundane, there’s nothing like the stiffness I found in Around the World in 80 Days, and the almost catatonic dryness of 20,000 Leagues… But then maybe I read terrible translations of those.

[PJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not going to lie it was really boring.

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a classic but not one of his best. It is a bit dull in places.

[Garrett Lyons · Rating 2 out of 5]

While well written, I struggled to finish this book. Characters are extremely one-dimensional. The professor happens to know the answer to everything. The narrator hardly grows or changes. For a book about discovering dinosaurs in the centre of the earth, it sure is a bore.

I can't believe this book gave me nightmares for my entire life. It's not nearly as scary as childhood Garrett believed.

[Cara Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Manzil Koley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been my all-time favourite classic adventure. something that always makes me inspired. i have watched the movie and now i have re-read my own copy of the book i can never let go of the adventure this novel takes me to every time. This is one such story that always makes me alive, and this is one such book that i can re-read more than once.

The world that we live in is full of surprises, and one may never know what more it hides. If it were to be true, what if there is something more to it? After all, human civilisation itself is based on stories. Who knows what this world is hiding? The only requirement is for the adventurers crazy enough to embark on those journeys.

[Nielsen R 7]

The journey to the center of the earth is by Jules Verne and it's about a professor and his nephew axel buy an original icelandic manuscript and they find a code of some sort along with the name of the writer of the code named Arne Saknussemm. And then they figured out the code it says that Arne Saknussemm has found a passage to the center of the earth in iceland and so they pack up their stuff and head to iceland. When they arrive the find a guide named Hans Bjelke and travel over the icelandic gourd to the base of a volcano and they climb up to the top of the volcano and start climbing into the bowels of the earth coming apont many strange things such as and underground steam that hans taps into and they name it the hansbach as horon of saving them from dehydration. After going many miles following the hasback as they go, they find an underground world the underground world has a big deep ocean and giant mushrooms that are the size of trees and they find ancient bones of dinosaurs and they find a human skeleton whose measures up to be more than 12 feet tall and so they build a raft to get off of this island and across the under ground sea and then they sail for a couple of days and they go through a big storm and see a monster fight and then they finally see land but is he same island that they left but as they search the shore they find a passage with the name Arne Saknussemm carved on the wall but it looked as if it had been caved in so they take what's left of their gunpowder and blow ahole through the hole and go down into a hole and then get blown out by a volcano into a french town and then find help and get home the end. I would recommend this book to someone who like adventure and fictional books.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this much more than 20,000 leagues as there was much less description of sizes, lengths etc. and much more description of the actual journey. It is an explorer who finds an old manuscript relating to experiences had in Iceland which eventually led to the centre of the earth. He decides to follow this with his apprentice and it describes there actually journey and the things they see such as prehistoric monsters. This was written a long while before paradigm shifts such as tectonic theory so it was interesting to see what people actually thought the centre of the earth held. It did have some scientific comments attached to it relating to the journey and these simply added to the story. It is well described, uses vivid language and is easily accessible to everyone. It is a perfect adventure story.

[Reilly]

Jules Verne wrote many iconic classic adventure books but this one takes the cake. Journey to the Center of the Earth is a classic adventure story with mystery, romance and syfy. The big mystery is how to get there. Professor lindenbrock takes his nieces boyfriend as a partner and he is really infatuated with the niece during the journey. Will they are down there they get attacked by many nightmarish creatures and in conclusion this book is an inspiration to many people looking for an adventure.

[Abhimanue Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jules Verne's journey to the centre of the Earth is a book with great adventure, it is written in absolute realism the book not only takes the characters but also the readers to this journey. It is a cult classic in the history of literature and Jules Verne is a legend in literature.This book is an adventure for a lifetime. when I finished the book I looked around to realize that i was in my home and not in the adventure with Professor Otto Lidenbrock and Axel. Cult Classic for a reason......................

[Levi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Journey to the Centre of the Earth isn't a book for everyone. The language in it is sometimes confusing and the story itself is sometimes boring. However, there are also very exciting and suspenseful parts where you feel like you are really there experiencing what all of the characters are going through. I would recommend Journey to the Centre of the Earth to anyone who likes reading classics, likes book that don't have a lot of action, or if you are just looking for a challenge.

[Madelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite novels! Besides 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea, this was the one Jules Verne novel that made me fall in love with his tales of adventure. What I hate about fantasy is that it's usually totally unbelievable. But Verne somehow made his journey to seem quite real. It was a beautiful read.

[Kirsty McCracken · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5*. It's dumbed down from the original so I don't love it as much, but it's a great way to visit the story for younger readers, for sure!

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The journey begins after Professor Lidenbock discovers an inscription describing an entrance to a tunnel that leads to the center of the Earth. He an his nephew find a prehistoric world.

[Kalila · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

This was a good book. I liked how fast paced and adventurous it was, encouraging themes like curiosity and showing where it can lead and what adventures can be in store for you as potential is everywhere. This book had a very fun aspect to it, showing the exciting adventures the characters were led on and how they braved their greatest challenges. This story also showed how doubt can be overridden through real life experiences that are to be valued forever. I think this book also made a point of showing how truly amazing the natural world is, because I do think that it is quite an underappreciated topic. Another thing I found interesting was seeing how these characters supported each other through the difficult parts of the journey they embarked upon, even coming and continuously trying to help their lost and ill friend. I also liked seeing the sacrifices made for the purpose of science, which currently ties in to the unit of unity we are learning about in the English curriculum at the moment and how humans are more inclined to do something when they feel as though their actions are contributing to a greater cause. Overall, I really liked this book and know that the past me would have too. This is definitely a good reason to start reading more adventure novels again, because I forgot how fun they are. I was also sick when reading this, so it was a perfectly fun, fast paced and inspiring novel to read through a short sitting period.

[Ian Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first read this book as a young child. It was an abridged version with lovely colour pictures. I loved it. A few years later I saw the American tv cartoon serial of the novel and I loved that as well, although looking back, it owed more to Edgar Rice Burroughs than it did to Jules Verne. I read the novel again when I was sixteen, this time not abridged and without pictures. I still loved it but I thought that the ending was ridiculous. Fifty-one years later, I read it for a third time and I'm puzzled as to what the fuss about Jules Verne is all about.

Written in 1864, it is about a German scientist, his nephew, and an Icelandic guide called Hans, who find a guide to the centre of the Earth, travel to the centre of the Earth, and come back. Not a lot else really happens. The novel consists of a long journey through a tunnel which leads to an underground sea, and then a long journey by raft across that sea, and then they accidentally and rather unconvincingly end up back on the surface of the Earth. Nothing else happens. Not too many strange creatures are found. Little sign of humanity living below the surface of the earth, although they did sight something resembling a human, but instead of investigating further, they ran away. When the main protagonists run away from an adventure in an adventure story, you know you are not going to get much of an adventure.

I finished the book disappointed. Maybe it is just a children’s book after all. The ending is still ridiculous.

[Dylan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 Stars

Journey to the Centre of the Earth surprised me and I enjoyed it more than I expected. I didn’t mind the scientific explanations or mineral descriptions, in fact, they work because they’re filtered through the uncle’s eccentric, obsessive personality. The info-dumping feels intentional rather than indulgent, and it suits the tone of the novel.

Where it falters is in the ending. After spending so much time carefully constructing the descent, the escape from the centre of the earth feels rushed, convenient, and frankly a bit silly. It reads like Verne had a brilliant idea for getting there, then realised he didn’t quite know how to get everyone back out again.

That said, for a novel of its time, it holds up remarkably well as long as you’re willing to accept how wildly unfeasible the premise is and don’t expect a perfectly earned conclusion. It’s imaginative, influential, and often enjoyable, even if the final act undercuts some of the care shown earlier.

[Freya Abbas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the opening of this novel with the Arne Saknusemm manuscript was great. I love Axel’s voice as the narrator and I thought Professor Lidenbrock was a great character. I loved the way geology facts were woven into the story and at times the prose was beautifully written. However, the plot actually got boring at times even though it’s literally about an epic journey. There were a lot of dull moments. Also, we get nothing about the interiority of Hans as a character and I found that frustrating. I also would have liked to hear more about Grauben even though she was only a minor character.

[Victoria Conway · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rating :1.5

“It’s not what is upon this island, but what is underneath that interests me.”

Written in a diary sort of format. Not sure if it's the layout or that the book was written in a different century but the characters were extremely unlikeable.

The uncle was rude and the main character was spineless. More description and focus on the science of their surroundings took away the magic of what was actually happening.

The constant near death misses and the fact that they rode out the center of the earth on a volcano outbursts, puts this story firmly in my will not read again going to the charity shop pile.

[Joe Pearce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feels longer than it is, but worth the read.

Although only 283 pages, the book feels much longer. There are incredible passages of descriptions, but unfortunately that is a detriment to the actual journey they are on sometimes. Sometimes whole chapters would only see the characters doing the smallest distance of their travels, but they were filled instead with expansive explanations and descriptions. This book is for the reader who likes to get lost and loves the idea of exploring, but also likes to have detailed explanations given to them throughout their journey. There may be dull moments throughout, but the sequences that follow are anything less than.

[Jason Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite to the centre, but a good way down! Verne's novel deals with human endurance as well as geology, fossils and anthropology in contrast to HG Well whose concerns are more political. But though he celebrates human ingenuity there is always a sobering caveat.....as in the breezy Around the World in 80 Days , and with the nihilism of 20,000 leagues under the sea, we feel our smallness and transience against the might and constancy of nature.

A nice freebie audible reading by Tim Curry.

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a science fiction story there was not much excitement. It took a third of the book for them to go underground at all. Any time something dangerous happened it was solved within a chapter or two, often by the main characters avoiding the problem rather than interacting with it. I have to admit geology is one of my least favorite sciences so all the rock descriptions and Latin names for things didn't help.

[Sagarika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decided to read the book cause I remember loving the movie 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' (2008) when I watched it many years back. Well the book having being written in the 1860's was quite different from the movie, both in vibe and cast. Apart from the scientific terms that both confused and fascinated me and some old words that were a bit hard to understand the book was a good read.

[Colton Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first time reading this book, from the 1877 Malleson translation. I listened to this book previously, from a different translation that was not the Baldick or Malleson translation, and it was not that great. If you have a copy of either the Baldick or Malleson translation of this epic voyage, definitely enjoy and read this epic masterpiece!!!

[Thejessicaness · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story makes me think of my dad, in that he has a new found interest in rocks but has always had a fear of heights. I love that the locations are real, even though the story may twist the truth of the place a bit. It brings me back to my biology class and the book "Your Inner Fish" by Neil Shubin. What a great insight into the unknown.