Customer Reviews

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea: Premium Edition

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is Jules Verne's classic tale of undersea adventure, as best I can tell based on the 1873 translation by Lewis Mercier. Since that's been the standard English translation for over a hundred years, it's probably the one you remember reading way back when, and the edition you'll be familiar with.

Re-reading this as an adult, and an adult who's spent twenty-plus years since then reading science fiction, I did have to remind myself more than once how amazing the then-future technologies Verne describes, like electric rifles, undersea diving suits, electric motors, etc., would have been to his contemporary readers; the book was first published in 1869, a mere five years after the Confederate submarine Hunley became the first submarine to sink an enemy warship (and sank itself in the process). At times I found myself mentally substituting "outer space" for "under sea," just to help me analogize the situation. Despite that, the plot and action were as riveting now as they were when I first read it twenty years ago. I did find myself, now as then, skimming over much of Verne's extensive scientific descriptions of undersea flora and fauna, etc., but that might be my own failing as a reader -- when I did take the time to read Verne's descriptions, I did sometimes catch the same sense of aquatic wonder I remember from watching films like _The Life Aquatic_.

From what I've read, the Mercier translation this is based on contains a number of translation errors, cuts out about 20% of the text, etc. Corrected, completed, updated ebook editions of this classic are available on Amazon, but they cost money -- I've been unable to find an out-of-copyright, corrected, complete, and free edition. For readers on a budget, though, this is probably the version you remember, and if read in the right way -- keeping in mind the era in which it was written, and skimming whenever the science gets too dry or detailed for you -- it's still quite entertaining.

Verne did write a sequel, _The Mysterious Island_, also available in the kindle free store; the better translation is available here: The Mysterious Island.

20,000 Leagues Under the Seas is about the adventures of the famous Captain Nemo and his crew aboard the even more famous submarine, Nautilus.

Nautilus, the famous submarine,is shaped to look like a fish, with a large metal fin on top used to ram and sink the ships and to look almost like a whale.

In this story, after sinking ships, Nautilus takes on a few passengers from one of the sinking ships.

Captain Nemo does not like war, and thus, he uses his submarine to destroy all kinds of war related ships and killing lots of people at the same time. His methods of putting end to wars is not admirable because of the killings but you cannot help but liking this character after all...

This is Jules Verne's classic tale of undersea adventure, as best I can tell based on the 1873 translation by Lewis Mercier.

I have been a Jules Verne fan since I was a kid. There is something to be said about his incredible imagination and his grasp of scientific principles that were well ahead of his time. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is the voyage of Prof. Arronax, along with his companions Ned and Conseil, who have found themselves on board the Nautilus, an incredible submarine designed by the mysterious Captain Nemo. The Nautilus crew lives esclusively in the oceans and seas, surfacing only to replenish oxygen. Throughout the journey, they experience breath-taking sights, heart-pounding adventures, and perilous obstacles. Jules Verne does a beautiful job constructing this submarine world, even inventing new sea creatures to fit into his story. Scarcely a chapter goes by without some new or legendary creature sneaking in to liven up the seascape. However, I think where this story falls short is in its flow. I understand that the story is written from Prof. Arronax's point of view, which is that of a scientist, but each chapter contains several paragraphs of virtually useless information, be it readings from the nautical instruments or long lists of aquatic animals (including their class, genus, and species). This detracts from the overall flow of the story and I believe could have been left out. However, at four stars, this book is still very much worth reading!

Sheer adventure narrative for the aquatic zoology and oceanography nerd. Captain Nemo the prototype for the mad at mankind genius villain; bad yet sympathy-deserving.

Actually challenging reading: many 50¢ science terms.

This is better than any movie version I've ever seen or will probably seen. A must read for any one.

My exposure to science fiction is embarrassingly limited, so who better to remedy it than Verne? Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was a groundbreaking work. It particularly established hard science fiction at a time when technology could not help but change the way we looked at the world.

And therein lies much of my criticism. With its frequent calculations of the size of the submarine and what not, it sometimes reads like a math textbook. Sadly, I do not take the same interest in the science as Verne so obviously did and other readers may. The descriptions of life at the bottom of the sea, on the other hand, make me want to visit an aquarium post-haste. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is very much the type of science fiction that revels in the `science' part.

That is not to say that Verne does take advantage of speculative fiction to use the "speculative" portion to explore human nature. Captain Nemo is as fertile ground as Captain Ahab for this. And our narrator has even less to say about his captain--he is consistently naļve, to the point that the subtleties of Nemo can be at first lost. However, over the course of the novel it becomes apparent that all is not well. We are never told what great sin civilization has done Nemo, rather we must wrestle over whether any sin could justify his actions. The action is quite light and the plot slow-placed. Most of the book is devoted to a tour of the wonders of the deep, with Nemo's gradual, swirling decline in the background.

The titular "twenty thousand leagues" refers to the distance covered by the Nautilus over the course of the book--well over twice the circumference of the earth--not the depth to which it sinks. There is no good reason to think the latter, but I was nonetheless confused on this point for years.

Of course any book this old will not age evenly. Captain Nemo's conservation instincts are a bit off-base. Shortly after chastising the whaler Ned Land for seeking to hunt southern whales, which he describes as "inoffensive creature[s]," he gleefully slaughters a herd of "cruel, mischievous" sperm whales. Hardly sustainability at its best. But perhaps Verne too expected us to recoil with Land at the bloodbath (how odd it is to side with the whaler over the conservationist).

Verne is as successful as any science fiction writer at his predictive science and technology. Sometimes it's incredibly accurate--Verne describes a light bulb a decade prior to its invention, the crew of the Nautilus communicate with an invented language a little under fifteen years before the invention of Esperanto, the South Pole is on a southern continent, and the Nautilus is largely built and operates like modern submarines (especially the double-hulled design). Other times, it's less so--a workable electric bullet has yet to be invented. Verne also repeats errors of his day--e.g., the misplaced notion that malaria was caused by "foul air."

Verne wrote at an exciting time. The south pole had not yet been reached and the first trans-Atlantic (telegraph) cable had recently been laid. We were just beginning to understand electricity. The ocean remained a great, unknown frontier.

Verne frequently uses archaic or technical terms for the sea creatures encountered. Sperm whales are called cachalots, walruses are called morse, and sea horses are called hippocampi.

I read the Kindle version of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea offered free through Amazon. There are a handful of typographical errors, but not enough to be overly distracting and none that cause confusion. Most bothersome is the degree symbol is replaced by a question mark throughout--a common error as the submarine's latitude is frequently given. It includes neither a foreword nor an afterword. I also own an old Educator Classic Library edition from 1968. It contains numerous added illustrations and helpful definitions and explanations throughout the text (directly next to the relevant text in the margin so they do not affect readability like a footnote or endnote would). These are particularly helpful for an older hard science fiction novel. It also contains a "backword" with helpful information about Verne and the history of the submarine.

I was very satisfied with this copy of the novel. The lettering is very large and readable. Despite not being pocket size, this edition is very lightweight and feels good in your hand. I love it! It makes me want to pick up and keep reading the book, very preferable to just printing the downloadable version online.

So, nearly 150 years have passed since this book has been published... and much of it has become just boring. I'm sure back then the description of how under-sea boats and suits work was thrilling, but now it's kind of... yup, I know that.

He goes into deep detail about the marine life, many a time, and I just skimmed and skimmed and skimmed. Honestly, by the end of the book I just wanted it to be over with. It could possibly make a 4-star movie with the right effects today.

Submarines as we know them didn't exist in 1869. But Jules Verne had an almost eerily prophetic knack for knowing what technology would be used in the future -- and he put it to work in "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea," a slow-moving adventure tale with plenty of proto-steampunk and almost fantastical undersea life.

Ships in the middle of the ocean are suddenly seeing -- and being attacked by -- "a long object, spindle-shaped, occasionally phosphorescent, and infinitely larger and more rapid in its movements than a whale."

Eventually the US government sends out a ship to capture the object, and during a sea battle Professor Aronnax, his manservant Conseil and harpooner Ned Land go overboard. Soon they're picked up by the Nautilus, the vast submarine that has been causing all this trouble, and introduced to Captain Nemo -- an intelligent, charismatic man who belongs to no nation.

Aronnax becomes fascinated by Nemo, his ship and his library -- as well as the amazing underwater adventures that Nemo introduces them to, like pearl-hunting and fighting a giant squid. But the captain's free, lawless life has its dark side, and the three men begin to realize that they must get away from the Nautilus no matter what.

It's actually rather amazing that Jules Verne not only dreamed up the idea of a semi-modern submarine long before they existed, but thought out the applications, the stealth, and the vast size. And since nothing like the Nautilus existed at the time, there's a slightly fantastical, steampunk flavor to "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

And as usual, Verne painstakingly studies everything about his imagined world, filling it with science (although he obviously didn't know about water/air pressure) and lovely descriptions of the Nautilus and the eerie underwater world (giant oysters, forests, Atlantis). The only flaw is that he tends to ramble on about exact measurements and travel details; there are boring patches here and there.

But Captain Nemo is probably one of Verne's most fascinating characters -- a charismatic, embittered man who is a sort of noble sea pirate. He does some stuff that is totally unacceptable (sinking a random warship), but he also has little spurts of kindness and generosity towards poor and powerless peoples of the world. He's scary but fascinating.

Giant submarines, charismatic pirates and an undersea world just waiting to be explored -- "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" is a fascinating sci-fi classic, if you can get past the dull patches.