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20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (Extraordinary Voyages #6)

by Jules Verne

3.67 · rating details · 27,704 ratings · 1,401 reviews

Tor Classics are affordably-priced editions designed to attract the young reader. Original dynamic cover art enthusiastically represents the excitement of each story. Appropriate "reader friendly" type sizes have been chosen for each title--offering clear, accurate, and readable text. All editions are complete and unabridged, and feature Introductions and Afterwo...more

Mass Market Paperback, Signet Classics , 384 pages

Published December 1st 1981 by Signet Classics (first published 1870)

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Aug 23, 2009

Ken-ichi rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: escape, science-fiction

Man, what a strange book. As I've learned from my more erudite sister, 19th century novelists are all about digression, and Verne, despite being very solidly camped outside Greatliterarynovelopolis in the growing shantytown of Genreville, is no exception. Literally half this book is a taxonomic listing of every plant and animal Arronax observes! I mean, even I was bored. Me. The nature freak. I occasionally review field guides on Goodreads, and yet I actually preferred George Eliot's tange...moreMan, what a strange book. As I've learned from my more erudite sister, 19th century novelists are all about digression, and Verne, despite being very solidly camped outside Greatliterarynovelopolis in the growing shantytown of Genreville, is no exception. Literally half this book is a taxonomic listing of every plant and animal Arronax observes! I mean, even I was bored. Me. The nature freak. I occasionally review field guides on Goodreads, and yet I actually preferred George Eliot's tangents about political economy and local gossip.

That said, this is a pretty fun book. Adventure under the sea! Laconic yet cordial sumbarine übermenches thirsting for vengeance and whale milk! Canadians! Well, a Canadian. The Canadian. He had a harpoon. Reading science fiction that describes a future long past is also a hoot, especially if you're a huge goddamn nerd. Despite accurately predicting the feasibility of a submarine, I don't think Verne had actually spent much time in the water. The Nautilus navigates not by sonar, but by shining a really bright light. I think swimming in anything but the most crystalline tropical seas would convince you that wouldn't quite work. Every time the crew leaves the ship to go exploring, they actually walk on the sea floor instead of swimming. One time, Cpt. Nemo dodges a shark. It's kind of hard to dodge slow moving jellies when you're underwater, never mind one of Nature's most amazing swimmers.

The book is also an interesting balance between technological hubris and an underlying conservationist theme. Nemo (and presumably Verne) decries the repercussions of overfishing when forbidding former harpooneer Ned Land from testing his skill against a pod of Antarctic whales: "In destroying the southern whale [...:] your traders are culpable, Master Land. They have already depopulated the whole of Baffin's Bay, and are annihilating a class of useful animals. Leave the unfortunate cetacea alone. They have plenty of natural enemies [...:] without you troubling them." Granted it's a utilitarian, anthropocentric kind of conservation ethic, but conservationist all the same. And yet earlier, upon beholding a massive bed of pearl oysters, Arronax narrates, "I could well understand that this was an inexhaustible mine of treasures, for nature's power to create goes far beyond man's capability of destruction." I doubt Verne set out with any fixed notions of environmental ethics in mind, but I find it intriguing that these contrasting sentiments keep popping up.

I think Verne's apparent ambivalence about the morality of technological advances is more intentional. The Nautilus is a marvelous creation that Nemo uses to reveal the unknown and better understand the world. It's also a vicious instrument of vengeance he employs against his former countrymen (or maybe not his countrymen, reading some of the other reviews...), a nearly invincible ship that can sink below the reach of canons and fatally ram any conventional vessel from beneath. As a war machine in a world of steam and sail it would be monstrous. I also think it's significant that Nemo and the ship meet their apparent end not at the hands of other men or even by an animal, but by the unthinking and inestimable power of the sea itself, bringing to mind Melville's line from Moby Dick:

...however baby man may brag of his science and skill, and however much, in a flattering future, that science and skill may augment; yet for ever and for ever, to the crack of doom, the sea will insult and murder him, and pulverize the stateliest, stiffest frigate he can make...

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Jul 29, 2011

Marvin rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, kindle

Another book on my quest to rediscover the childhood joys of reading Jules Verne and to hopefully find some adult insights that were hidden from me as a child.

I think I may have loved it a little less as an adult but it is still a marvelous adventure travelogue. As a child, Jules Verne's colorful descriptions of undersea wonders opened my eyes and mind. Now I still think they are amazing but I see it as a 18th century costume adventure. Unlike a lot of readers, I found Verne's listin...moreAnother book on my quest to rediscover the childhood joys of reading Jules Verne and to hopefully find some adult insights that were hidden from me as a child.

I think I may have loved it a little less as an adult but it is still a marvelous adventure travelogue. As a child, Jules Verne's colorful descriptions of undersea wonders opened my eyes and mind. Now I still think they are amazing but I see it as a 18th century costume adventure. Unlike a lot of readers, I found Verne's listings quite marvelous to read. Yet, this time I was also more aware of the relationship between Professor Aronnax and Ned Land, the Canadian harpooner. Each of these characters present opposites. Aronnax is sophisticated, learned, and a bit arrogant. Ned Land is uneducated, brutish, quick-tempered but comfortable with himself. But Aronnax is often wrong in his conclusions and Land is often right! In the early part of the novel, Aronnax is trying to convince the skeptical Land that a sea creature powerful enough to destroy a ship can exist. He sets out a formula showing how immense a serpent needs to be in order to withstand underwater pressure, to which Land exclaims, "Why they must made of iron plates eight inches thick!" And in fact Ned is right and Aronnax wrong. The sea serpent is not a live monster at all but a submarine with eight inches of iron plate! Often, Ned's practicability wins out yet I think Verne was often demonstrating that essences of both intellect and common sense need to work together in order to be victorious.

And of course there is Captain Nemo. He is and remains a cipher. He represents both nihilism and misguided idealism. Nemo wants a perfect world but is reduced to self-exile and perhaps even self-loathing. Nemo is the mirror in which the other character see themselves. He is both one of the most memorable personages in literature yet also one of the most mysterious and perplexing.

So Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea remains a wonderful sci-fi adventure tale even taking in its antiquity. But I also enjoyed the characters of this novel more the second time around and was able to catch the marvelous nuances which Verne placed on them. (less)

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Apr 07, 2010

Werner rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: classics, science-fiction

Verne's works are difficult for an English-speaking reader to evaluate fairly, because he wasn't well-served by the English translations of his day --which are still the standard ones in print, which most people read. The translators changed plots and characters' names in some cases, excised passages they considered "boring," and generally took a very free hand with the text; so you never know how much of the plodding pacing, bathetic dialogue, and stylistic faults (for instance, what...more

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Jul 26, 2008

Qt rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: action-adventure, science-fiction

Overall, a good book, often exciting, and one I enjoyed; parts were a bit slow-moving or technical for me, and a few questions seemed to be left unanswered. Still, I see why Cpt. Nemo has become such a famous character!

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Oct 06, 2009

Jay rated it

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Shelves: gouge-my-eyes-out, sci-fi, historical-distant, translation, classic

Firstly, I won't deny that Jules Verne knows his stuff. This book is full of scientific analysis, with a detailed knowledge of zoology, ocean currents, geographical construction and engineering designs. While the character development is stalled and Nemo is the only one to truly grow (somewhat, that is), the amount of knowledge Verne shoved into the book made it sink- no pun intended.

I'm in no way denying that this book is interesting and is not worthy of a higher rating. There were...moreFirstly, I won't deny that Jules Verne knows his stuff. This book is full of scientific analysis, with a detailed knowledge of zoology, ocean currents, geographical construction and engineering designs. While the character development is stalled and Nemo is the only one to truly grow (somewhat, that is), the amount of knowledge Verne shoved into the book made it sink- no pun intended.

I'm in no way denying that this book is interesting and is not worthy of a higher rating. There were parts where I actually felt myself getting drawn into the world. The description of the underworld life sucked me in, and I could almost see what Verne was describing. But after page after page after page of nothing but telling, not showing, I felt myself losing interest. There is only so much I can really take.

There was also a subtle humour. One part is when Aronnax is in one of his underwater walks with Nemo, and it starts to rain. He thinks to himself that he'll get wet, forgetting that is he underwater, and his realisation catches him off-guard. Furthermore, I did like Conseil, however he seemed to be much younger than his thirty years and had a rather strong romantic devotion to his Master. I'm not suggesting that Verne was unknowingly writing a homosexual relationship between Aronnax and his assistant, but reading it as a modern reader, I cannot help picking up on this relationship. After all, I wouldn't know of many fictional servants who would willingly plunge into the ocean depths simply because their Master fell after being pulled away by a then-thought-of gargantuan water monster.

In closing, this is a great historical work. I don't deny that, and I do recommend that book to people for that fact alone. It has inspired many sci-fi works today, and Verne is- was- a very knowledgeable scientific writer. However, it is not in my taste. The language isn't difficult, but after constant descriptions that appear to be written to explain to the reader alone (I don't know anyone who would explain the size of something in the amount of water it displaces!), I couldn't help feeling dragged down by it. Besides this, I really did like it, but couldn't give it a higher rating due to the difficulty it took to read line after line of description of fish.(less)

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Apr 12, 2009

Donna rated it

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Recommends it for: can't think of anyone!

Shelves: 2009

I have just spent the best part of the last 2 weeks reading this, and I'm wondering why I bothered. I had completely the wrong impression of what this book was about, not having heard the story or seen any of the films (apart from Captain Nemo turning up in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen!). I thought that the 20,000 leagues under the sea meant that they literally went down vertically to 20,000 leagues below the surface and there found a land full of fantastical creatures a la Journey to the...more

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Aug 31, 2008

Chad rated it

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Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy

You can't be a serious science-fiction reader without delving just a bit into the genre's roots. To remedy an embarrassing lack of any Jules Verne on my reading list, last year I read "Journey to the Center of the Earth". I can see how to a young reader, it would be an instant classic. It's a pretty ripping adventure complete with hidden underground worlds and dinosaurs and gleefully wrong-headed theories about geology. What's not to love?

Maybe I was a little disappoint...moreYou can't be a serious science-fiction reader without delving just a bit into the genre's roots. To remedy an embarrassing lack of any Jules Verne on my reading list, last year I read "Journey to the Center of the Earth". I can see how to a young reader, it would be an instant classic. It's a pretty ripping adventure complete with hidden underground worlds and dinosaurs and gleefully wrong-headed theories about geology. What's not to love?

Maybe I was a little disappointed? I was hoping for more than just a corny adventure story. There wasn't a lot there send me searching the shelves for another Jules Verne novel. But, alas, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" sat there anyway, patiently waiting for me be curious enough to crack it open. Its prospects weren't too hot, but it did have one thing playing to its advantage, and that one thing was: Alan Moore.

You see, Alan Moore had written several years ago, a Victorian era literary adventure comic called "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen." In it, he collects literary characters from various eras and sends them off to save the world. For its base of operations, the team used The Nautilus, the otherworldly submarine of Captain Nemo. Moore's version of Nemo was about a million miles away from the James Mason version in the classic Disney movie, which was a lot closer in tone to the goofy peril invoked in "Journey to the Center of the Earth". Moore made Nemo dark and brooding and ambiguous and cryptic. There wasn't anything corny about it.

Okay then...what the heck. I gave Verne another chance, and plucked the novel off the shelve and had a look.

Unexpectedly, the first thing I read was a brief introductory essay by Ray Bradbury comparing "20,000 Leagues" to "Moby Dick", laying out a convincing arguement for how Nemo and Ahab are opposite sides of the same coin: Ahab evil in his pursuit to conquer the Great Whale and the sea, Nemo evil in his pursuit to become one with it. Now Ray Bradbury has always been a bit of a starry-eyed dreamer (which isn't a bad thing), so it wasn't too far fetched to think he was reading this Verne novel through rose-colored lenses, but quite frankly, nothing in "Center of the Earth" really lent itself to being compared seriously to any Great American Novels, so perhaps I'd be dealing with something different this time out. Equipped with a bit of optimism, it was time to let the book speak for itself.

And the novel spoke for itself. Where "Center of the Earth" was a slick popcorn action story, "20,000 Leagues" is dark and gritty and real. Rather than cartwheeling through flashy action-set-pieces, the story of Doctor Arronax and harpooner Ned Land's imprisonment by Nemo is a crawling, cryptic one. It moves very slowly and deliberately, taking its time to offer lavish descriptions not only of the expansive vistas of the world's oceans, but also of the Nautilus, the grand undersea palace constructed by Nemo in his self-imposed exile from society.

Some of the descriptions of sea life are almost tedious (okay, 'almost' nothing, they really are tedious). As our narrator is a marine biologist, we are graced with several encyclopedic descriptions of every possible creature you might find in the depths. Slowly, however, you begin to realize how much in love with the ocean Arronax is, and all the endless cataloguing of sea-life are really the doctor's love poems to the sea.

And via Arronax's great passion, Nemo slowly becomes less of a villain. How villanous is it exactly to offer an awe-struck marine biologist an opportunity to spend the rest of life studying things no other scientist could even dream existed. Which paves the way for Ned Land, the restless harpooner who keeps popping his grizzled nose into the room and reminding everybody that Nemo is a megalomaniac bastard. Which is basically true, but honestly, I only begrudgingly accepted Nemo as the bad guy, maybe because I, like Arronax, am a scientiest at heart.

Anyhow, the moral ambiguity of Nemo, the starry-eyed wonder of Arronax, the tough-as-nails grit of Ned (I honestly think Verne was picturing Kirk Douglas when he created Ned) gives the reader a host of characters with whom to get deeply invested. Combined with the intricate and luxurious descriptions of the world under the ocean, "20,000 Leagues" is a vastly different sort of adventure than "Center of the Earth".

Much to my surprise and delight, it is far more than a schlockly romp around the ocean. It may not be at the same level as "Moby Dick", but it definitely reads as a work of fine literature.(less)

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Mar 14, 2008

Jason Pettus rated it

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Shelves: victorian, sci-fi, classic

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

The CCLaP 100: In which I read a hundred so-called "classic" novels, then write reports on whether or not I think they deserve the label
Book #8: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne (1870)

The story in a nutshell:
Writing in the same Victori...more

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Apr 22, 2008

Saman added it · review of another edition

Shelves: novel

ناگهان توجه جهان به اعماق آ‌ب‌ها جلب می‌شود. مردم جهان متوجه موجود ناشناسی می‌شوند که در اعماق آب‌ها زندگی می‌کند. عده‌ای گمان می‌کنند او یک کوسه بزرگ است، عده دیگری هستند که معتقدند، او نوعی هیولای دریایی ناشناخته است. اما کمتر کسی می‌تواند تصورش را بکند‌ که آن موجود، وسیله‌ای‌ست ساخته دست بشر

پروفسور آروناکس به همراه ندلند که صیاد نهنگ است، و یک دوست دیگر، با یک کشتی تحقیقاتی به جستجوی این هیولای زیر آب می‌روند. اما کشتی در اثر برخورد با آن موجود آسیب می‌بیند و پروفسور آروناکس و همر...moreناگهان توجه جهان به اعماق آ‌ب‌ها جلب می‌شود. مردم جهان متوجه موجود ناشناسی می‌شوند که در اعماق آب‌ها زندگی می‌کند. عده‌ای گمان می‌کنند او یک کوسه بزرگ است، عده دیگری هستند که معتقدند، او نوعی هیولای دریایی ناشناخته است. اما کمتر کسی می‌تواند تصورش را بکند‌ که آن موجود، وسیله‌ای‌ست ساخته دست بشر

پروفسور آروناکس به همراه ندلند که صیاد نهنگ است، و یک دوست دیگر، با یک کشتی تحقیقاتی به جستجوی این هیولای زیر آب می‌روند. اما کشتی در اثر برخورد با آن موجود آسیب می‌بیند و پروفسور آروناکس و همراهانش،‌از یک زیردریایی سر در می‌آورند. چیزی که تا کنون مانندش را ندیدن و حتا تصورش را هم نکرده‌اند

آنها با ناتیلوس سفر می‌کنند و شگفتی‌های دنیای آب را می‌بینند، ودر همین حین با کاپیتان نمو، ناخدا و مالک ناتیلوس آشنا می‌شوند. پرفسور در عین حال که کاپیتان را تحسین می‌کند، اخلاقیات او را رد می‌کند، و فکر می‌کند برخورد او با مسائل دنیا درست نیست. پرفسور و همراهانش متوجه می‌شوند، چون از راز ناخدا نمو آگاه گشته‌اند، در واقع در ناتیلوس اسیر شده‌اند و دیگر نمی‌توانند به دنیای روی آب باز گردند، اما آ‌‌ن‌ها حاضر نیستند، تا آخر عمر در ناتیلوس بمانند

در این داستان ناخدا نمو را بیشتر از زاویه دید و قضاوت پرفسور آروناکس و همراهانش می‌بینیم. آن‌ها کاپیتان نمو را مردی کمابیش دیوانه و دنیا گریز می‌بینند(less)

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Mar 19, 2007

fatemeh alizadeh rated it

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Shelves: literatrue-story-novel

این رمان دنباله فرزندان کاپیتان گرانت است و پس از آن جزیره اسرارآمیز میآید. حیوان دریایی عجیبی با هیکل غولآسا در بعضی از سواحل دیده شده است. یک گروه تحقیق در کشتی امریکایی «آبراهام لینکلن» تشکیل میشود. آروناکس ، دانشمند طبیعیدان فرانسوی، و نوکر او، کونسی ، جزو این گروهند. کشتی برای شکار آن حیوان دریایی حرکت میکند. هنگامی که موفق به مشاهده آن نهنگ میشوند، موج عظیمی برمیخیزد و کشتی را تقریباً به تمامی زیر آب فرو میکشد و آروناکس و کونسی و ند لند ، نیزهافکن کشتی، را بر پشت نهنگ پرتاب میکن...more این رمان دنباله فرزندان کاپیتان گرانت است و پس از آن جزیره اسرارآمیز میآید. حیوان دریایی عجیبی با هیکل غولآسا در بعضی از سواحل دیده شده است. یک گروه تحقیق در کشتی امریکایی «آبراهام لینکلن» تشکیل میشود. آروناکس ، دانشمند طبیعیدان فرانسوی، و نوکر او، کونسی ، جزو این گروهند. کشتی برای شکار آن حیوان دریایی حرکت میکند. هنگامی که موفق به مشاهده آن نهنگ میشوند، موج عظیمی برمیخیزد و کشتی را تقریباً به تمامی زیر آب فرو میکشد و آروناکس و کونسی و ند لند ، نیزهافکن کشتی، را بر پشت نهنگ پرتاب میکند. ولی این شئ غول آسا نهنگ نبوده بلکه زیردریایی عظیمی به نام تاتیلوس است. سه مرد را به درون ناتیلوس میبرند و نزدیک ده ماه در آنجا میمانند. کاپیتان نمو ، که نقشه ناتیلوس را کشیده است، و نیز دیگر سرنشینان «ناتیلوس» ظاهراً از آمیزش با مردم به شدت احتراز میکنند. سه قهرمان ما در معیت این شخصیت مرموز از زیر برزخ سوئز میگذرند، قاره مفقود و اسرارآمیز آتلانتید و گنجهای مدفونش را میبینند، با آدمخواران و اختاپوسهای غولپیکر میجنگند، در جنگلهای زیر دریا به شکار میپردازند و در یک گورستان مرجانی در تشییع جنازهای حضور مییابند ولی همواره در حسرت بازگشت به روی زمین به سر میبرند، خاصه که نفرت از میزبان نیز بر این حسرت افزوده میشود؛ و آن از روزی است که میبینند چگونه او با کمال خونسردی یک کشتی را با همه سرنشینانش غرق میکند. آنگاه هویت حقیقی کاپیتان نمو را کشف میکنند: او شاهزادهای هندی است که انگلیسیها در روزگار گذشته خانه و ملکش را گرفته و او را از عزیزترین علایق زندگیش محروم ساختهاند و او از آن زمان دشمنانش را با کینه و نفرت تعقیب میکند. سرانجام ند لند و آروناکس و کونسی تصمیم به فرار میگیرند. سوار زورقی میشوند، جریان گرداب زورق را از تنه زیردریایی جدا میکندولی به شکل معجزه آسایی نجات مییابند و به یکی از جزایر لوفوتن میروند و از آنجا خود را به فرانسه میرسانند. این رمان، یکی از بهترین رمانهای ژول ورن است. شخصیت کاپیتان نمو، که دستور غرق یک کشتی را میدهد و خود با خونسردی به تماشای آن میپردازد و سپس در برابر تصویر زن جوان و دو کودک میگرید و برای شورشیان یونانی طلا تهیه میکند و پرچم سیاهش را در قلب منطقه قطبی مینشاند؛ در حقیقت قهرمانی رمانتیک است و تا اندازهای یادآور «ابرمرد»ی است که مورد علاقه ادبیات آن عصر بوده است.

ابوالحسن نجفی. فرهنگ آثار. سروش.

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Dec 15, 2008

Tom rated it

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Recommends it for: anyone who enjoys classic science fiction.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 06, 2008

Chris added it · review of another edition

Shelves: abandoned

Victorian sci-fi / thrilling adventure books are always better in one's imagination than when one finally gets around to reading them. There's only so much semi-prophetic/humorously off-base "future" technology that one can marvel at in retrospect, especially when all the characters save Nemo are laughably flat (though the loyal, stoic man-servant is always a nice touch). I was hoping for a bit more fiery anti-colonialism from Nemo, but the book is 90% a written version of a National...more

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Jan 09, 2009

Terry rated it

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Shelves: literature

My favourite book as a kid. And of course it's still great. So many fantastic scenes and an ending that remains etched in my brain.

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Sep 27, 2007

David rated it

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I love Jules Verne but there are too many boring parts in this book. He has a bad habit, which really bugs me, of trying so hard to make his heroes seem brilliant that he has them reciting dictionaries. It's not believable, and seems a little lazy. For example, the characters will see plants in the ocean and they will converse for several chapters on all of the menial trivia involving the plants and their close relatives. It's not interesting information, it's just show-off data. He falls i...more

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Aug 15, 2007

Quinn rated it

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It's an amazing book but weirdly difficult to get through because of all the pseudo-scientific jargon he packs into it, which I seem to remember reading later Verne admitted to totally making up. So just when you're getting interested by Nemo, thinking what the hell ethnicity is this guy anyway? or what is this energy he can produce? you get swamped by thirty pages on the architecture of urchin skeletons. I'm tempted to make the rare call that the movie might be better, definitely more easil...more

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Jul 30, 2011

Jessica rated it

· review of another edition

I basically read this because it was free on my Free Books Iphone App (and I felt silly for having never read this classic) but I really enjoyed it! The scientific terms lost me occasionally, but the adventure was good!

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Jun 18, 2008

Nathan rated it

· review of another edition

It has been said that Captain Nemo is the worst villain in classic literature. I disagree. I submit that Verne's intimate knowledge of marine biology, which he thrusts upon the reader in chapter after painful chapter, is TRULY the worst villain in classic literature, though it could be argued that Melville's familiarity with the whaling industry is right up there. Overall, too much of the book told me too little. I was hoping for a better character sketch of Captain Nemo, and I was left want...more

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Jul 03, 2010

Bryan added it · review of another edition

Good Read, But Sometimes Dry: I thought that the book had one of the best plot lines I've ever seen, reguardless of the fact that there is only slight building up to the climax. The only thing that I didn't think was that good about the book was that about every other page, Jules Verne would go into a paragraph description of the animals. For example, he would say something like: I just saw a tuna. But not the normal tuna, it was yellow-bellied, had dorsal fins that went at a downward angle, etc...more

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Feb 09, 2009

Randall rated it

· review of another edition

If you're going to read this book, make sure you get this translation or read in the original French. The other translations make egregious mistakes and remove a lot of the politics from what is essentially a political book. I read a ton of Jules Verne as a kid, so much so that he was my favorite writer. Back then, Journey to the Centre of the Earth was my favorite book. However, having re-read his books as an adult (and even writing a paper about this one in college), this one stands head-a...more

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Dec 05, 2008

Bonnie Oman rated it

· review of another edition

It was exciting to read the book that inspired the movie which was one of my favorites as a little girl.

The book of course is tons better. In some parts overly descriptive but hey that how Jules Verne writes.

I really like that reading this book was a like reading a shortened history of ocean explorers and battles all entailed in a adventure of it's own. Plus it shares a lot amazing things about the life in all the different oceans and seas that are still accurate.
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Feb 16, 2012

Rjurik Davidson rated it

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Suffused, of course, with the scientific spirit, '20,000 Leagues' presents the sea itself as the alien environment to be explored. There is plenty of vivid writing here, though this central notion - the sea as exotic world - is not quite enough to carry to entrance the modern reader. Another dated classic then, of historical importance, no doubt, but plagued with an obsession with measurement and classification. The moments where we are engaged are, interestingly enough, the moments when Verne d...more

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Jan 29, 2012

Melissa Guimont rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, classics

Professor Arronax decided to hunt down the mysterious sea monster that has been terrorizing ships and spurred public curiosity in 1866. The ship he was on becomes wrecked by this beast known as the Nautilus. The Nautilus, a submarine built by Captain Nemo becomes their home for a while and entices and enthralls Arronax on his quest to learn more of the sea's wonders. His other 2 companions, Conceiux and Ned Land, however feel like prisoners itching to escape. I don't like how they feel a nee...more

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Jan 26, 2012

Caleb Dushman rated it

· review of another edition

20,000 Leagues under the sea was a great book. I think Jules Verne is a great author. If you don’t know the big secret to the book revealed in the beginning don’t read this. The book takes place in the time it was written, 1870’s, and there are three characters, all completely different in personalities, but end up in a submarine. They all find the captain and he has a hatred for land and knows more than the average man. He takes these men on great adventures under water, but never lets th...more

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Jan 25, 2012

Tim Wade rated it

· review of another edition

Summary:
A great rip-roaring read that flows easily with action from start to finish. A must for true fans of science fiction with the way it combines action, recent scientific discovery and predictions of future technology.
This is an important book in literary history (published in French in 1866), and like all such books needs to be read with the contemporary context in mind (read the Introduction!).

Details:
In 1869 Professor Arronax lands aboard the Nautilus of the amaz...more

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Sep 26, 2011

Bella Sieira rated it

· review of another edition

This is one of my two favourite books. I could read it over and over again and it teaches me different things every time I do. I recommend this novel to absolutely everyone who can read. It's a classic science fiction novel based in the late 1800s. I talks about Captain Nemo and his famous submarine the Nautilus. In 1866 word begins to spread about a sea monster that is threatening the already dangerous waters of the South Seas. Finally after numerous ships have been sunk, including Cunard ship...more

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Aug 30, 2011

Lily rated it

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When I first picked up this book, I had no clue what to expect. Often I have put down older books, not because of lack of interest, but because of archaic language and mannerisms. Once I started reading, I was very happy to see this was not the case. While there were a few words and phrases I did need to look up, 20,000 Leagues didn't distract from the story with old timey syntax. This makes it a good read for teens as well as adults.

Jules Verne weaves an extraordinary tale of life b...more

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Aug 22, 2011

Michelle Isenhoff rated it

· review of another edition

Jules Verne’s undersea adventure classic is a smooth blend of science and fantasy, so smooth I had to do a little research to verify where the line blurs. Written as a first person account (the narrator is a scientist), it contains many facts and figures “proving” observations with natural law. Many facts and figures. And lists of species. And detailed descriptions. Parts of it come almost like a science journal and remind me of Wells’ War of the Worlds. I did a lot of skimming in these se...moreJules Verne’s undersea adventure classic is a smooth blend of science and fantasy, so smooth I had to do a little research to verify where the line blurs. Written as a first person account (the narrator is a scientist), it contains many facts and figures “proving” observations with natural law. Many facts and figures. And lists of species. And detailed descriptions. Parts of it come almost like a science journal and remind me of Wells’ War of the Worlds. I did a lot of skimming in these sections, because they get a little tedious, but they sure add veracity. Thank goodness for Wikipedia!

Aside from naturalist moments, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a great adventure! It’s very readable 140 years later, and Verne is an early master of suspense. Each scene builds uncertainty, pushing you on to the end of each chapter. Then the peril begins anew. Among its many quests, the Nautilus (submarine) finds sunken treasure, travels through a hurricane, is attacked by giant squid, gets trapped between icebergs, and transports our narrator on a non-stop, seven-month journey of discovery.

And speaking of discovery, I was amazed with Verne’s portrayal of Antarctica. He must have undertaken an amazing amount of research to create all the undersea settings and creatures, and even to design the Nautilus, but educating himself about Antarctica must have been a killer challenge. No exploration took place on the continent till twenty-two years AFTER this publication! Yet Verne describes it beautifully (with some minor inaccuracies). Amazing!

I very much appreciate the interplay between four vastly different main characters. Pierre Aronnax, the naturalist; his servant, Conseil; and a harpooner by the name of Ned Land are all aboard the Nautilus accidently and against their will. Aronnax is educated, thoughtful, and cautious. He’s perfectly happy to wile away the hours taking notes and improving his life’s work featuring the ocean. Conseil is steady and devoted. Land, on the other hand, seethes at his confinement. He’d rather be out hunting, or cursing, or slamming drinks at a portside tavern than sitting on his hands looking out the window.

But the intriguing, paradoxical figure of Captain Nemo is the diamond in this crown. Strong, brooding, cultured, rebellious, ingenious, reclusive, Nemo disdains the evils of civilization. In fact, he has created the Nautilus to escape from society altogether. Yet we’re never sure exactly why he harbors such hatred and vengeance toward mankind. At the same time, he is restrained in his decision regarding the three castaways. And he’s generous, merciful, even heroic toward weaker characters. He is the main reason I’m curious about Verne’s lesser-known sequel, The Mysterious Island. (There is also a third entitled In Search of the Castaways.) I may have to keep reading.
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Jul 28, 2011

Eric Stahl rated it

· review of another edition

All due credit where credit is due -- Jules Verne was way ahead of his time. His description of the submarine was dead on. His knack for characterization was up there with the best of modern sci-fi writers. Still, this book dragged on and on, with an endless litany of sea creatures' names in Latin. Doubtlessly this netted him tremendous credibility, but it left me cold. After looking up the first hundred or so names to correlate them to identifiable names of animals, I gave up and would breeze ...more

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Jul 24, 2011

Morgan rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, my-e-books, school-read, classics

Verne is a genius! Masterful piece!

Okay to start off I have to say that the idea of this book and the very plot was utterly amazing! If the book was simply the plot without the (sometimes painful) descriptions this would be a flawless book to say the least. There are books with over descriptive points and I try to make my way through them as best as I can, however, there were times when I would literally skip large paragraphs, and at a few points entire pages and not miss a single im...more

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Jul 22, 2011

Amanda rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: classics

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. T...more

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About Jules Verne

Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828 – March 24, 1905) was a French author who pioneered the science-fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Journey to the Center of the Earth (written in 1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (written in 1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (written in 1873). Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before navigable aircraft and pra...more

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“The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides. The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence. It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the Living Infinite. ” — 71 people liked it

“We may brave human laws, but we cannot resist natural ones.” — 34 people liked it

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