This adventure is full of realistic true details about, say, strangely geometric basaltic columns, but at the same time, it’s full of absolute nonsense. That’s par for the course for science-fiction, but this is early science-fiction. Now, our science-fiction stories are typically out in space, or in the future. In the time of Jules Verne, there were still many mysteries much closer to home.
Therefore, to read and enjoy this book in spite of advances in geological knowledge, you have to ignore the voice in your head that says, “Of course there isn’t a cavity deep inside the earth that sustains plant and animal life similar to the plant and animal life of prehistoric times.” You have to think to yourself, “What if there were?”
What if your uncle and employer, a grumpy old scientist—and the godfather of your charming girlfriend—proposed to go down into the theoretically hollow earth (which you believe is unbearably hot) based on some explorer’s writings from centuries ago? You’d think he was crazy, and you certainly wouldn’t want to go with him.
But your charming girlfriend tells you it is needful for you to go out into the world boldly and make a name for yourself. So you go. But you’re expecting your uncle’s crazy quest to fail at every moment, and you’re looking forward to throwing in the towel, turning around, and going home.
Eventually, you concede that you were wrong; but by that time, you’re more than a bit worried about how you’ll make it back alive to tell of the marvels you’ve seen. You descended into the bowels of the earth in a volcanic crater in Iceland, but you’ll emerge from a different volcano… in Italy!
When and Why I Read Journey to the Center of the Earth
This is one of the more famous Jules Verne stories. It keeps popping up on lists of classics. But I haven't read it, so I'm reading it.
Genre: sci-fi/adventure
Date started / date finished: 07-Feb-25 to 16-Feb-25
Length: 146 pages
ISBN: B074W95Z2Y
Originally published in: 1864/2017
Amazon link: Journey to the Center of the Earth
