Nearly a century before NASA, a visionary novelist wrote this adventure classic about an international space race. Jules Verne’s eerily prophetic fantasy unfolds at the close of the American Civil War, as three artillerymen resolve to build a gun big enough to propel a manned rocket to the moon. Enlivened by broad satire, this rollicking tale recounts the launch of three astronauts from a Florida peninsula and their return to Earth in a splash landing.
Acclaimed as “the man who invented the future,” Verne wrote with uncanny accuracy about space, air, and underwater travel long before they were real possibilities. A pioneer of science fiction, he endowed his stories with a freshness and verve that keeps them vital for modern readers. This edition features an excellent translation by Verne’s foremost interpreter, Edward Roth, and seventeen enchanting illustrations from the original French publication.
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Summary
Overall From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne First published in French in 1865 (later in English in 1867) Try to read the original story. This is the second of Verne’s more famous works although this book is perhaps made more known by a black and white film made early in the twentieth century and the imagery of the “space vehicle” hitting the man in the moon right in the eye. The story starts after the American Civil War with a maker of cannons joins forces with another arms maker and a
Frenchman design and use a huge cannon to launch themselves to the moon. There is a lot of speculative science in Verne’s books and in this one, even though obviously no one had attempted space travel or even launching unmanned vehicles into space Verne comes very close in his calculations for escape velocity. A humorous read…definitely worth it…don’t have high expectations, just enjoy it, imagine, you are reading a story that was written during the Civil War!