The materials, the propellant, the location from which the gun must be fired, the angle, and financing are all covered in minute and unnecessary detail leaving the actual firing of the gun to the final chapters. The worst part, however, is that the bulk of the book is a bore, consisting of an endless discussion of the technical aspects of this ridiculous plan. One might forgive Verne his naiveté, but these ideas would have been considered absurd even in 1865.
The bullet is hollow and carries a passenger along with a rifle (in case he needs to defend himself from moon-men) and some seeds so he can grow some crops on the moon when he arrives. It’s not that the science and technical aspects are laughable (that’s not unexpected given the book was written a century before the NASA program put a man on the moon), but that the story itself is dumb.īasically, the plot involves shooting a 9 foot hollow aluminum bullet from a cannon so that it escapes the Earth’s gravitational pull and ultimately collides with the moon. There’s a reason From the Earth to the Moon isn’t listed among Jules Verne’s most popular works. Among his many groundbreaking books are Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1872). Also available from Cosimo Classics: Verne's Five Weeks in a Balloon OF INTEREST TO: science fiction fans, readers of 19th-century literature French author JULES GABRIEL VERNE (1828-1905) is considered the father of modern science fiction.
First published in France in 1865, this replica 1918 edition includes the sequel, 1870's Round the Moon. When the members of the Baltimore Gun Club-bored Civil War veterans-decide to fill their time by embarking on a project to shoot themselves to the moon, the race is on to raise money, overcome engineering challenges, and convince detractors that they're anything but "Lunatics." With this work, Verne inspired the first science fiction film, 1902's Le Voyage dans la lune, and accurately predicted that that ideal location for a spacebase is in Florida. "If you do not mind," answered Nicholl "it is more business-like." This is the legendary novel of technological speculation and social satire that launched an entire genre of adventure fiction: Verne's From the Earth to the Moon and 'Round the Moon is the first story of space exploration and remains a beloved work of daring exploits-and surprisingly accurate scientific conjecture. "Will you have a receipt for it?" asked Barbicane, taking the sum. "Here are the nine thousand dollars," said the captain, drawing a roll of paper dollars from his pocket. Doubt was no longer possible the travelers had left the earth. This light would have lit the window, and the window was dark. showed that the projectile has passed the atmospheric strata, for the diffused light spread in the air would have been reflected on the metal walls, which reflection was wanting.
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