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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jules Verne the clairvoyant,
By C. T. Hunter "chips_books" (Gainesville, FL United States) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: From Earth To The Moon (Paperback)
Remarkably prescient, Jules Verne's first novel about space travel seems all too prophetic. It is also a quick, easy, and fun read that should be enjoyed by any reader. Written as a sort of documentary, FROM EARTH TO THE MOON takes you through this tale in a straight-forward, descriptive way that nonetheless portrays the emotion and humor of the events. Like most of Verne's novels, this one has very memorable characters and detailed scientific explanations of how to make the impossible possible. Verne's characterizations of America and Americans is laugh-out-loud hilarious, but also contains very real and poignant social commentary relevant to the times of his writing this book. There is no reason why you shouldn't take a couple of days to read this very enjoyable novel.
Verne's ability to imagine science at the next level, and predict its direction in the future are what make all of his novels such respected masterpieces. His way of bringing his stories to life with fleshed-out characters and believable emotion is what gives his novel such lasting power. Even 145 years after the publication of this novel, there is still much within that seems relevant. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this book now is our ability to look back on the past presented here. Verne's view of America's love for machines and technology, and their unstoppable will to accomplish the impossible, juxtaposed with his characterizations of them being ridiculous and unreasoning, is fascinating and funny. As are his descriptions of Florida (Tampa Town) and the rest of the country. Just the fact that Verne wrote of Americans' will to get to the moon, "to plant their Star-Spangled Banner" and claim it as their own is remarkable, considering that just over 100 years after the writing, the deed was done. An extremely enjoyable novel, that will only take a little of your time. Highly recommended!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Building One Big Cannon,
By
This review is from: From Earth To The Moon (Paperback)
It's hard to review translated books since the storytelling inevitably loses some of its elegance in the translation. Jules Verne was a Frenchman so obviously he wrote in French and as a typical American I speak English and a smattering of another language which is not French. From the Earth to the Moon surprised me in several ways. First, I wasn't expecting the subtle humor and wry wit. Verne's description of the Gun Club and their obsession with ballistics and war leading to the inevitable loss of more than half their limbs was a very funny way to open the book. The humor isn't overt and tails off as the book goes on to the point where the latter half of the book is more sly than hilarious. I was also surprised that the book actually has very little to do with going to the moon.
With war on the wane the Gun Club (who would perhaps more appropriately named the Cannon Club) decide to take on their most audacious endeavor ever, to send a projectile to the moon. Given that this book was written before modern rocketry the only solution available to Verne in achieving this feat was through pure brute force. The Gun Club would be creating a monstrous cannon capable of sending an enormous cannonball into the air with enough force to break through the Earths gravitational field and strike the moon. It's clear the Verne did a TON of research on ballistics, astronomy, metallurgy and a variety of other fields as the readers is treated to the building of the cannon down to the minutest detail. The Gun Club discusses the size of the cannon, the materials used, the substance for ignition, the best place to fire the projectile, the costs involved and how they will go about soliciting funding. These aren't just high level discussions as Verne gives a myriad of facts and figures including exactly how much money each country gave to finance the project. The process of designing and building the cannon occupies a great majority of the story and the actual firing of the cannon only occurred in the last nine pages. In the end Verne's cannon did its thing. It launched three passengers into the stratosphere with no hope of return. Even Jules Verne couldn't conceive of a means to get the projectile back home so the passengers dressed as if going on a safari and hoped that those back home might send up some care packages to the moon occasionally. So do they make it? Their success or failure isn't the point of the story. This is a story about a colossal engineering achievement, its planning and implementation. As a writer Verne emphasizes the Science and puts less into the fiction and this was the most reasonable way he could come up with to put three men on the moon given the limitations of the time. Readers are regaled with piles of scientific information including the difference between a refracting and a reflecting telescope and just about every known fact or speculation about the moon circa 1865. This is a fun and entertaining book with a space transport lit by gaslight. It's interesting how Verne tries to solve problems such as how to recycle air in the confined capsul and keeping the passengers from being flattened when the cannon is fired. Unlike modern rockets that take off rather slowly all the energy of the cannon is released in one tremendous blast. Readers can also note the occasional scientific mistakes in the book but given the date it was written Verne does very well.
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