Journey to the Center of the Earth
Publisher: Standard Ebooks
Published: 2020
Language: eng
Subjects: Science fiction; Adventure stories; Earth (Planet) -- Core -- Fiction; Voyages, Imaginary -- Fiction
Description: <p>A classic science fiction novel by French writer <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/jules-verne">Jules Verne</a>, this work is one of the most well-known subterranean fictions to this day. It inspired many similar works and adaptations. First published in 1864 in French as <i lang="fr">Voyage au centre de la Terre</i>, it was quickly translated to English by several different publishers in the 1870s. The current edition was based on the translation by Frederick Amadeus Malleson that was published by Ward Lock &amp; Co <abbr>Ltd.</abbr> in 1877.</p>

<p>Our protagonist is Axel, whose overcautious and unadventurous spirit contrasts with that of his uncle Professor Otto Lidenbrock, an eccentric professor of geology. When Professor Lidenbrock obtains a mysterious runic-coded note in the manuscript of an Icelandic saga, he is determined to decipher it. Axel inadvertently solves the code and, much to his chagrin, discovers that it is a set of directions left by a sixteenth-century Icelandic alchemist to reach the center of the earth via the volcano Snæfelljökull. Reluctantly, Axel joins his uncle on a trip to Iceland, and with the aid of a local guide, Hans, begins an adventure towards the center of the earth, where they will encounter giant mushrooms and insects, an island with an enormous geyser, and battle pre-historic reptiles. One of Verne’s most well-known works, this novel is a testament to Verne’s love of geology, science, and cryptography.</p>