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Jan 16, 2012

Ken-ichi rated it:

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 More...

1 comment like (11 people liked it)

Jul 29, 2011

Marvin rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Apr 07, 2010

Werner rated it:

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...

9 comments like (15 people liked it)

Jul 26, 2008

Qt rated it:

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!

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 06, 2009

Jay rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 12, 2009

Donna rated it:

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...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 31, 2008

Chad rated it:

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 More...

4 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 14, 2008

Jason rated it:

(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...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Apr 22, 2008

Saman added it

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 More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 19, 2007

fatemeh rated it:

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...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 15, 2008

Tom rated it:

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

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 15, 2011

Lawrencebrooks rated it:

Well it's a classic. It's interesting to read about characters conceived in the 19th century
and compare their views and actions to 21st century values. Whale hunting didn't
seem to be such a big deal back then! You can also see why this would have been
a fantastic adventure story.

I have a soft spot for late 19th/early 20th century English literature. It's something
about the purity of the language I think. There seem be less pretensions in the writings.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 06, 2008

Chris added it

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...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 09, 2009

Terry rated it:

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.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 27, 2007

David rated it:

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...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 15, 2007

Quinn rated it:

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...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Aug 18, 2011

Jessica rated it:

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!

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 18, 2008

Nathan rated it:

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...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 03, 2010

Bryan added it

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...

0 comments like

Feb 09, 2009

Randall rated it:

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...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2008

Bonnie Oman rated it:

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.
More...

0 comments like

Jan 29, 2012

Melissa rated it:

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...

0 comments like

Jan 26, 2012

Caleb rated it:

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...

1 comment like

Jan 25, 2012

Tim rated it:

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 rated it:

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:

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 rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like

Jul 28, 2011

Eric rated it:

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:

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...

0 comments like

Jul 22, 2011

Amanda rated it:

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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