Veinte mil leguas de viaje submarino

Por Julio Verne

Descubre el interior de la mítica nave Nautilus, dirigida por el capitán Nemo, así como los sorprendentes paisajes submarinos que te llevará a recorrer. ¡Pero cuidado! Una vez que te adentres en ella no te será tan fácil escapar. Una de las novelas clásicas de ciencia ficción que nos llevado a las profundidades del mar.

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: Nostra Ediciones
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 4 abr 2020
• ISBN: 9786074525878

Julio Verne

Julio Verne (Nantes, 1828 - Amiens, 1905). Nuestro autor manifestó desde niño su pasión por los viajes y la aventura: se dice que ya a los 11 años intentó embarcarse rumbo a las Indias solo porque quería comprar un collar para su prima. Y lo cierto es que se dedicó a la literatura desde muy pronto. Sus obras, muchas de las cuales se publicaban por entregas en los periódicos, alcanzaron éxito ense­guida y su popularidad le permitió hacer de su pa­sión, su profesión. Sus títulos más famosos son Viaje al centro de la Tierra (1865), Veinte mil leguas de viaje submarino (1869), La vuelta al mundo en ochenta días (1873) y Viajes extraordinarios (1863-1905). Gracias a personajes como el Capitán Nemo y vehículos futuristas como el submarino Nautilus, también ha sido considerado uno de los padres de la ciencia fic­ción. Verne viajó por los mares del Norte, el Medi­terráneo y las islas del Atlántico, lo que le permitió visitar la mayor parte de los lugares que describían sus libros. Hoy es el segundo autor más traducido del mundo y fue condecorado con la Legión de Honor por sus aportaciones a la educación y a la ciencia.

Comentarios para Veinte mil leguas de viaje submarino

[justifiedsinner_1 · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

90% info dump. 10% plot

[librarianryan · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

#BBRC #RealClassic#ReadHarder#booked2020#Popsugar#BeatthebacklistI read this story as a Great Illustrated Classic when I was a child. I remember loving it, but now I just feel cheated. The origianl story is so expressive and amazing, and all that stuff was cut out to dumb the book down for younger readers. I am no longer a fan of GIC and have not been for a while. I hate when these are the only stories kids have in their home/class or in their libraries.There were so many things I missed as a child that I catch now. Like how people thought they were hunting a giant dangerous narwhal, when actually it was the Nautilus. Or how the Nautilus was a type of prison. The same type of prison I sit in now for Covid-19. All the luxuries and things I love and plenty to keep me interested, but still isolated and scary. Until reading the full version of 20,000 Leagues I always thought of Captain Nemo as a type of pirate. He isn’t at all. He is a scared and lonely old man. Why else would he escape to the sea with no desire to see land again if he was not scared of something.I listened to this book. And while it was a bit slow, and sometimes boring as they describe the various sea creatures, overall it was a great story that I would listen to again. And to think it was written almost 150 years ago. H.G. Wells knows or guessed more about the depths of the ocean than many modern scientists. This book has held the test of time, and I think that 100 years from now it will still be considered relevant.

[greeniezona · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

One of those classics I'd somehow never gotten around to reading, so I was pleased when my oldest picked this out for bedtime story. The short chapters and limited cast of characters made it well-suited for reading aloud, though I could not make myself do a Canadian accent for Ned Land -- his gruff aggressive style just kept coming out more Scottish/Appalachian.Anyway, there was some colonialist bullshit that we had to yell through/critique, but mostly this book is about marveling at the wonders of the ocean, which I can always get behind. (I mean, there's a bunch of engineering geekery that's partly devalued as just coming off foolish to modern readers.) I kept wanting to have an annotated version of this to explain to me what of the marine biology was fact vs. fiction, obscure vs. well-known at the time, etc.A good read.

[cbloky · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

this was my classic book i decided to read this year. it was a quick and easy read a little different then what i taught it was gonna be about but enjoyed it and would recommend it.

[sumisbooks · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

How to begin... there are some aspects of this book that were extremely fascinating and the adventure that Jules Verne writes is captivating. What I did not care for were the excessive uses of nautical terms as well as zoological/biological terms used to describe everything in the book. Perhaps it is just more evidence of the dumbing down of society as we no longer describe things in these fashions and makes it difficult for the reader of today to follow. Even with the author's fluent and graceful writing. The thing that most irritated me, was that all my life I've been led to think the Nautilus was attacked by a giant squid when that chapter in the book was described VERY differently! However, I guess I cannot fault the original story for how other interpretations have distorted it. Still, I can see why this book is so timeless and I encourage everyone to give it a read to enjoy the great adventure with mad Captain Nemo under the sea.

[sarielle-2 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I don’t know what I exactly expected from this book, but not exactly this. I think I anticipated more plot and action. And this book is very erudite.

This is not really my thing. But still I’m amazed with the amount of information and knowledge contained in this book. Nowadays, we do not have a problem with access to detailed information on any topic, you can search virtually anything on the internet. But at a time when Verne wrote his book, this amount of information had to be impressive and required some serious research. All these curiosities included in the book were then completely unknown to the readers. I imagine that they had to ignite the imagination back then.

Unfortunately, times have changed and now this accumulation of encyclopedic information is a bit boring. Enumeration of all kinds of fish and marine animals is simply uninteresting for today's reader who is looking for action and plot twists. And I am not an exception.

Nevertheless, the book is a wonderful record of the scientific knowledge on the seas and oceans at the time. And this aspect is especially interesting for me. It's fascinating to catch a glimpse of how people saw the world 150 years ago. What interested them, what they were afraid of and how they imagined the future. And even more interesting is what they did not know then and what we already know now. Like the South Pole, which in Verne’s book looks very like Greenland which is very far from truth. And although the south pole is still studied by scientists, it is not a white patch on the map anymore.

The same with regard to the use of electricity. The light bulb was not invented until around 1880. It was not until 1882 that factories in the United States began producing light bulbs. Verne published his book 10 years before this! The idea of an entire ship (and a submarine!) being electrically powered had to be something fantastic in the Verne era and beyond human imagination.

Another aspect that I noticed reading this book is the perception of the world at the time. Even more valuable that it is not presented from the perspective of today's political correctness or an attempt to point out certain problems but shown in a way that was then quite natural. In the book we have a very well illustrated approach to colonialism and a way of thinking about the ‘savage’. And although today we have a completely different approach to these topics, contact with a report from the past helps us understand how our ancestors thought and how the world changed over years. Therefore, Captain Nemo who would be considered an ecologist and social activist even in more recent standards is an extremely interesting character.

I’m glad I read this book even if it is not my favourite. It's fascinating to see how people imagined the future and what turned out to be true.

[geoffhabiger · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is one of those classic science fiction books that should be on any science fiction fans reading list. Being around so long (Verne originally published the book in 1869), and available in so many versions, translations, and media, can make reviewing the book difficult. Most readers either have read the book, or will want to read it because it is one of the "classics" of the science fiction genre. That caveat being said, here's my review of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The story opens with reports of strange sightings and damage to ships by an unknown creature. The narrator, Pierre Aronnax, is a professor of the natural sciences and a medical doctor from Paris. While returning from a trip to collect fossils and other specimens from Nebraska he is given a chance to hunt down this mysterious monster aboard the ship, Abraham Lincoln. Aronnax has previously hypothesized that the creature responsible for the encounters is a large form of narwhal. Joining Aronnax on the trip is his servant, Conseil, and a whaler and harpooner, Ned Land. The Abraham Lincoln eventually encounters the supposed monster, and the three men are thrown overboard when the creature rams the ship. They are miraculously rescued when they discover that it was not a creature at all, but a submersible boat. The rest of the novel covers the various adventures and settings that Aronnax and the others discover while being the "guests" of Captain Nemo, the builder of the famed Nautilus. As with most of Verne's works, the story is told in the form of a travelogue, with the story being recounted as if reading from a journal or interview with the narrator - Professor Aronnax. The stories of adventure - traveling under Suez, hunting in a kelp forest, seeking the South Pole and being trapped in ice, and the famous attack of the Nautilus by giant squid - are interspersed with more sedate discussions of the workings of the ship, or the Professor's enthrallment with Captain Nemo. That is quite interesting since Nemo has essentially captured the three men and refuses them to ever leave the Nautilus again. Verne's gift is to create a thrilling adventure and to expound upon the wonders of technology. His description of the Nautilus and its operation is decades ahead of its time. He even describes a practical, and nearly identical to the modern equivalent, SCUBA system for breathing underwater that was about 80 years ahead of its time. Verne does miss the mark with many of his speculations about the natural world. He didn't foresee the theory of plate tectonics, and his description of Antarctica misses the mark. (And I give him creative license to include the fabled Atlantis - it was an adventure story after all.) But that doesn't detract from the adventure story that he is telling.My biggest problem with the story is with the characters. Verne spends so much time recounting the travelogue of Aronnax that the characters are not fleshed out. The only one who seems real is Aronnax himself. His two companions, the forgettable Conseil and the stereotyped Ned Land (who's last name is entirely reflected in his constant desire to flee the Nautilus) are mere window dressings for Aronnax, somebody he can reflect his own ideas upon. But what is really annoying is that we get to know so very little about Captain Nemo himself. A suburb engineer, master of the sea, fearless and stoic in the face of danger, we learn so little about his character. There are many secrets about Nemo that Verne teases the reader with, but we are never shown the answers to them, such as his motivations, the reason he quit the land to forever roam the sea, or his past. That was a disappointment. If you are a fan of science fiction I recommend that you read Verne's classic at some point. Even among his own works I do not consider it to be his best, but it is worth the read to see the early works of the science fiction genre. If you want to listen to the work (like I did) I do highly recommend the version from Tantor Media narrated by Michael Prichard. I am familiar with Prichard's narration from other works and he again delivers a great performance here. (I checked out this version from my local library.)

[m_mozeleski · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

I suppose that as an 'abridged just for you' version of a book, I shouldn't have had my expectations up so high. But I did, and while the overall novel was great, I really, really wanted more out of this book. Especially description-wise. It kept cutting out halfway or jumping from item to item so quickly I got minor whiplash. I am unsure if an unabridged version exists, but I hope it finds its way to me at some point.

However, all that being said, I rather enjoyed the novel. It was fantastic, if a bit brief.

[jaredorlando-1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

To be upfront, I thought there would be a lot more action in this story. I never read it in school, so coming at it as an adult was intriguing. That being said, I was not let down. Verne is very versed in sea life (this book is chock full of jargon) and as a science nerd, it was fascinating. And somehow, through all the science and tech, he was able to create a story that is often exhilarating.

[csdaley-1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This rating is a childhood rating. Hooked me on Science Fiction when I read it.

[reenum_4 · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

Started off with a bang, but then got bogged down with endless description of the scenery. I guess no one ever told Verne to show rather than tell.

[bridgey_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

20,000 Leagues under the sea - Jules Verne ****Every now and then I get the urge to pick up a book that has become considered a classic, but all too often I find them far too stuffy and boring for my taste and grudgingly drag myself from cover to cover without any real enjoyment. Gulliver’s Travels bored me to tears, Robinson Crusoe cured my insomnia and Jane Eyre made me hide the razor blades… so I decided to try something a little more up to date and that had the potential for a decent adventure. 20,000 leagues seemed an obvious choice.There can’t be many people in the western world that aren’t familiar with the Jules Verne masterpiece that follows the Nautilus as it make its journey beneath the waves. Professor Aronnax and his assistant Conseil, accompanied by master harpooner Ned Land find themselves prisoners aboard the Nautilus, the mastermind of Captain Nemo, a man who has shunned living on land and now utilizes his enormous submarine and the oceans to sustain his crew. As they traverse the globe it becomes more and more apparent that Nemo is a tortured genius who is intent on vengeance for the death of his family and the small band of prisoners must decide whether to resign their lives to the wonders of the Nautilus or make a break for freedom. With danger from both Nemo’s unpredictability and the wonders of the deep it soon becomes a race against time.Many authors are called visionaries, and sometimes I think history has been a little too kind, but not in the case of Verne. The ideas he comes up with for underwater travel and the use of electricity still seem amazing now, and I can only imagine the response in 1870, and even though submarines were around then, none would have been able to undertake the voyage described. He takes the reader through the seven seas, from warm tropical waters, under Atlantic ice shelves to even mythical cities that have been lost to the waves. Obviously well researched the plant and animal life is described in immense detail and at times does come across a little bit like a school textbook, but I suppose you have to understand that the undersea world was really unknown to the majority of people at that time and this would most likely be their first introduction to it, so the more detail the better.My biggest issue came not with the novel itself, but rather selecting which one I should read. Obviously the original text was written in French and since then there have been several translations, with each differing in the language used to previous. I had never really thought about this before, and just assumed a translation would be the same regardless of who wrote it, after all a sentence in French should in theory have only one way of being translated into English. This is not the case, and although the story remains unaltered the prose is dependent upon whoever undertakes the translating and what slant they use. My other problem was finding a text that was unabridged, my version was around 300 pages long with fairly small print, but there are others that run over 500 pages. I couldn’t find anywhere on my copy that advised whether it was complete or not, but I feel it was probably abridged and therefore I lost some of the experience.All in all though, I really enjoyed the book, far more than I thought I would. I didn’t realize there was also a sequel written called ‘The Mysterious Island’. I will definitely be looking that up in the near future.

[haloedrain · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

The narrator has a habit of listing by genus and phylum every single plant and animal he sees and every shipwreck that has occurred in each region he travels to, but I skimed those and the rest was pretty good. I enjoyed the odd combination of 19th-century-style entitlement with surprisingly modern-sounding environmentalism (that species has been nearly hunted to extinction and this may be the last of its kind...let's eat it! or praising nature for creating new coal deposits in the sargasso sea for humanity to use when the land-bound deposits run out, or berating the harpooner for wanting to kill a whale needlessly, then slaughtering a huge group of other whales that came to hunt the first group....) And of course, an ambiguous villain(?) is often enjoyable.

[codonnelly · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

What do you get when you combine marine biology from the late 1800s and an action-adventure classic? 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, of course!

If you haven’t already read it or seen one of the many film adaptations, the novel follows Professor Arannox, an educated gentleman, and Conseil, his servant, on their search for knowledge within the ocean’s depths. Along the way, they encounter many wonders and meet the acquaintance of some intriguing characters, including the mysterious Captain Nemo.

When the plot focuses on the conflicts our cast of characters face on their journey, the pages fly by. From kidnappings to shipwrecks, a lot happens in what could be considered a rather short novel. Unfortunately, where there’s adventure, there’s also quite a lot of seemingly unnecessary description. Much of the book focuses on various characters making observations about fish. Unless you’re a scientist with a keen interest in the biological classification of sea creatures, there’s not much that will intrigue you in those passages. The descriptions that did not bother me were those that detailed the intricacies of Captain Nemo’s vessel, the Nautilus. At the time the novel was published, submarines were still incredibly primitive, so it’s impressive that Verne was able to predict the future, in a manner of speaking.

All of the main and supporting characters are fascinating, to say the least. Professor Aronnax values knowledge over freedom, Conseil takes great pride in his subservient position, Ned Land has a bloodlust for the hunt, and Captain Nemo, well, we don’t know much about him, do we? The level of secrecy he exudes kept me engaged until the bitter end. Verne has a subtle way with dialogue too. There were many moments, particularly in interactions between Ned and Conseil, which left me chuckling to myself.

20,000 Leagues is a classic for a reason. As much as I disliked the long scientific passages, the novel certainly has its merits. If you’re bothered by the extensive marine life descriptions, I highly recommend skimming or skipping them completely if you’re concerned that they’re ruining your reading experience.

[jonfaith · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Not being familiar with the comparative criticism between Verne and Wells, can only offer that I while I enjoyed Nemo's narrative and the compelling saga presented, I felt it would've benefited from some of Wells' philosophy.

[syco_2 · Calificación: 1 de 5 estrellas]

In 2000 Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne gives way too many details, about every thing; fishes, mollusks, machines, and more. Also, the book has very little excitement and loses your interest after about 5 minutes. I would not suggest this book for a pleasure read unless you are very interested in the sea and all of its inhabitants. However if you have to read it try to read it in small portions spread it out over time so you don’t get too bored.In 2000 Leagues Under the Sea, Professor Arronax goes on the Abraham Lincoln to figure out the mystery behind a sea beast that has recently started appearing all over the world. When the Abraham Lincoln finally finds this creature professor Arronax his faithful servant council and their new friend Ned land a whaler from Canada are knocked off their ship and are left to survive in the mysterious ocean with their fates controlled by the creature they had just been hunting.The only thing interesting in this book is when they actually do something like visit an under water forest of a drowned city. Unfortunately that doesn’t happen much, and you get bored between events. The rest is pointless and boring details that take up over two thirds of the uneventful book.

[jeffjardine · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

"Among the molluscs and zoophytes, I found in the meshes of the net several species of alcyonarians, echini, hammers, spurs, dials, cerites, and hyalleae. The flora was represented by beautiful floating seaweeds, laminariae, and macrocystes, impregnated with the mucilage that transudes through their pores; and among which I gathered an admirable Nemastoma Geliniarois..."*flip flip flip*"...carpet of molluscs and zoophytes. Amongst the specimens of these branches I noticed some placenae, with thin unequal shells, a kind of ostracion peculiar to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean; some orange lucinae with rounded shells; rockfish three feet and a half long, which raised themselves under the waves like hands ready to seize one. There were also some panopyres, slightly luminous..."*flip flip flip*"...phyctallines, belonging to the actinidian family, and among other species the phyctalis protexta, peculiar to that part of the ocean, with a little cylindrical trunk, ornamented With vertical lines, speckled with red dots, crowning a marvellous blossoming of tentacles. As to the molluscs, they consisted of some I had already observed--turritellas, olive porphyras, with regular lines intercrossed, with red spots standing out plainly against the flesh; odd pteroceras, like petrified scorpions; translucid hyaleas, argonauts, cuttle-fish (excellent eating), and certain species of calmars that naturalists of antiquity have classed amongst the flying-fish, and that serve principally for bait for cod-fishing. I had now an opportunity of studying several species of fish on these shores. Amongst the cartilaginous ones, petromyzons-pricka, a sort of eel, fifteen inches long, with a greenish head, violet fins, grey-blue back, brown belly, silvered and sown with bright spots, the pupil of the eye encircled with gold--a curious animal, that the current of the Amazon had drawn to the sea, for they inhabit fresh waters--tuberculated streaks, with pointed snouts, and a long loose tail, armed with a long jagged sting; little sharks, a yard long, grey and whitish skin, and several rows of teeth, bent back, that are generally known by the name of pantouffles; vespertilios, a kind of red isosceles triangle, half a yard long, to which pectorals are attached by fleshy prolongations that make them look like bats, but that their horny appendage..."Zzzzzz....

[atimco-1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

In 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne's 1869 adventure story, a strange creature has appeared in the world's oceans. It looks like a whale, but it is much larger and faster than any whale yet known to science. When international hysteria over the mysterious creature reaches its height, the U.S. sends a warship out to find and destroy it. Professor Pierre Aronnax, a famous French naturalist, is invited to come along and observe. Also on board are Conseil, Aronnax's faithful manservant and classification expert, and Ned Land, an expert harpooner. When they finally do meet the creature, they are astonished to learn that it is not a creature of flesh and blood at all, but a manmade ship that sails under the water. A submarine! Aronnax, Conseil, and Ned are shipwrecked and taken aboard the Nautilus by its enigmatic and brilliant captain who calls himself Nemo (Latin for "no one"). Why has Nemo built this incredible submarine, and what has caused his intense hatred for the powers that reign on dry land? And — more to the point — will he ever let his prisoners go?20,000 Leagues Under the Sea begs comparison to Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, and Ray Bradbury's introduction to this edition explores each to illuminate the other (please note there are spoilers for both in this paragraph!). Bradbury says both Melville and Verne are "blasphemers" in their open questioning of God's dispensations. But while Melville is bleakly existential, Verne has a much more practical view of things. If Melville and Verne were building the Tower of Babel, Melville would write poetry about ascending the heavens while Verne would be busy trying to discover the best mixture for the bricks. Ahab goes down dramatically with the Whale to his death; Nemo builds a mechanical whale and plumbs the depths of the oceans to survive. Both stories end in a swirling vortex, but while Ahab's fate is certain, Captain Nemo's is left open.I have to admit I was a bit disappointed with this book. It is evident that Verne did a lot of research for it — too much at times. In every ocean they visit, Monsieur Aronnax gives us detailed descriptions of the ocean life, telling us what each fish looks like (and whether it is good to eat). This is interesting some of the time, but as it went on and on, my eyes started glazing over. Often the characters ask questions that are obvious lead-ins to info dumps. This is fine to a point, but when it happens in every chapter it gets a bit old. I do see why Verne would go to such lengths (depths?) to describe everything minutely; his readers in 1869 would be thirsty for every word detailing the mysterious underwater realms of the ocean. Maybe it just doesn't work as well with modern readers who have already seen all kinds of underwater exploration footage and pictures. I do have to give Verne credit for thinking up halfway-plausible theories for how his submarine could operate (though several are not at all correct). Verne is a towering figure in the science fiction genre, and it's easy to see why. Despite the slow parts, there are some iconic moments here that I remember from the Great Illustrated Classics edition I read as a child... the shadowy underwater graveyard, the giant squid attack, and the pearl-oyster beds of Ceylon. Verne does not dwell overmuch on the philosophical aspects of the story, but their undertones are very much present, and they come out strongly when someone dies. Gradually we come to see that Nemo is just as much of a fanatic as the more demonstrative Ahab; he really means it when he says he hates the human societies on the dry land. In this book Nemo's nationality and the specific injustices he suffered remain a mystery, though I understand that these are explored in the sequel, The Mysterious Island.This book is thought provoking when read in our context of the modern environmentalist movement. In one place, it sounds like Nemo doesn't care about using nature responsibly; dugongs are becoming quite rare due to overhunting and yet Nemo allows Ned Land to harpoon one in a very offhand manner. But later, when Ned wants to kill some baleen whales, Nemo refuses to allow it because they would not use the meat; it would be for the sheer joy of killing, and those particular whales were already becoming rare. It is fascinating that Verne was so aware of the issues even then, and embodies these two opposing viewpoints through Ned Land and Captain Nemo. Neither, of course, can understand the other.And yet Nemo has no problem killing a group of sperm whales that were going to attack the more benign baleen whales. The carnage is quite graphic. Nemo justifies this by saying that the sperm whales are vicious killers that the world can easily spare. It seems that Nemo equates the vicious sperm whales with a particular nation/political movement, the one that destroyed his family. He sees himself as judgment meted out upon them.And randomly, I was also hugely amused at the brief mention of and explanation for global cooling (yes, you read that right). Interesting how we keep changing our mind on this topic. Maybe in the next century we will determine that the earth's temperature is remaining constant?I can understand why this is a classic, and I am impressed at the breadth of its ideas. Underwater ships, batteries powered by sodium, pressurized diving suits, guns that shoot electric bullets, incredibly inventive ocean cuisine — all of man's creative forces focused on reaping life from the elements. Man is moving forward, conquering, exploring, classifying, and cataloguing every inch of the globe. But after all its underwater victories over the forces of nature, the Nautilus disappears in a raging whirlpool... or does it? If the Nautilus is a metaphor for scientific progress, there is an interesting parallel here; its implications are still too ambiguous to admit of a neat and tidy conclusion. Every reader will come away with a different perspective.Just a note: I do not recommend the Tantor Media audiobook of this story. I tried to listen to it and had to turn it off because the narrator's voice (which was fine in itself) kept spiking and distorting even at a normal conversational volume level, resulting in a grating fuzziness. This really surprised me because it was recorded in 2003, presumably with decent equipment (?). But it was too annoying to be borne. I have not listened to the audiobook done by Naxos; perhaps it is better.Overall, I would say this is a work I respect because of its landmark position as a classic of science and adventure fiction. But besides Captain Nemo, the characters aren't very compelling, and the long, frequent descriptions of ocean life impede the plot. It left me cold, and I don't think it is a book I will revisit.

[kazhout · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

I first read this book when I was eight. While my classmates were rushing against one another to bring home Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, I was devouring our library's collection of Verne and Sherlock Holmes books. They were thick, with huge prints and illustrations - clearly intended for kids. One time, I took out a book in the morning, read it during breaktimes, then returned it in the afternoon of that same day before I went home.Of all the titles in that collection, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea ended up being my favorite. So, more than ten years later, when I saw it again in the bookstore, I knew I just had to relive the adventure again. It had been a light and fast read in that small, thick book from third grade, so I certainly didn't expect it to be long and, frankly speaking, quite dragging in its unabridged form. That said, it was still a better adventure than before. If Verne didn't expound too much on the sea creature naming, this book would've been paced faster, but less believable too since he wrote it in a professor's point of view.In all, I still loved it and I look forward to re-reading his two other books that I first read a decade ago: Around The World In 80 Days, and A Journey to the Center of the Earth.

[icefirestorm · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

A good story, a little slow at times but it never stops moving entirely. It was interesting to see how people viewed our ecology in the past. I would reccomend reading it with a dictionary at hand as the main character is a zoologist and uses terms not familiar to the common man. All in all, I'm glad I read it.

[mikedraper · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

In 1866 there are a number of sightings of an unexplained object in the ocean. Some of these objects are far apart and with no other explanation, it is thought that it might be a sea monster.An expedition is established with the U.S. Naval frigate Abraham Lincoln under command of Captain Farragut. They are determined to find this sea monster and deal with it.Professor Pierre Aronnax of the Museum of Paris had written articles about this phenomenon of a possible sea monsgter and he his asked to join the others, along with his man Conseil and Canadian harpooner, Ned Land.Once they are out to sea and have traveled far in search of this monster, something is sighted and a small boat is launched. Ned Land is ready with his harpoon and Pierre and Conseil are with him. Ned realizes that this object is not a monster as their boat is swamped and they are picked up by the submarine, the Nautilus under Captain Nemo.They are kept in gentle captivity as the Nautilus travels around the world with Captain Nemo commenting as they reach various places. Pierre also comments on some of the things they find, such as a sunken ship with treasure aboard.The style of writing is dry and without much emotional comment. The style was so different from today's writing that It was challenging to get involved with the story.Jules Verne had some excellent ideas such as the deep sea diving equipment but when the Nautilus is said to go 20,000 leagues under the sea, that is more than the circumference of the earth.It was interesting to see where writing has changed in the last one hundred years and the changes in science fiction writing.

[schmerguls · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I read this because it was on a list of Great Classics. I saw the movie long ago but did not remember much of it. I thought the title meant 20,000 leagues down! It seems Captain Nemo and Professor Aronnax (and Conneil and Ned land ) went on a submarine for 20,000 leagues, often under the sea's surfacce. It has some exciting things, especially when they almost die at the South Pole. This book is nnotated, and corrects some things in the standard English translation. The sequel is The Mysterius sland, but I don't think I have to read it. Verne wrote 65 books. I think I've read enough bny him.

[sandsing7 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

A true classic. It did have sections where the scientific detail got a bit overwhelming, but they were easily skimmed and did serve to help with the characterization. For the most part, the narrative kept moving and the characters were fully developed. I was slightly disappointed in the ending. After all those adventures, I wanted the best adventure to be the grande finale, but the author employed the deus ex machina by having the narrator fall into a state of unconsciousness where he (and the reader) essentially missed the last adventure. Sad. But overall, a good read.

[bookconcierge · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Book on CD performed by James Frain

Professor Aronnax and his valet Conseil embark on an American frigate in search of a mysterious narwhale that has attacked several ships. Arronax is an oceanographer and uniquely qualified to classify the monster once it is captured/killed. But they, along with the Canadian harpooner Ned Land, are thrown overboard when they confront the beast, and soon discover the truth. The “monster” is actually a sophisticated submarine – the Nautilus. Captain Nemo saves them from the open sea but tells them they may never leave, although they have the full run of the ship and are included in various experiences. From the South Pacific they travel the world, witnessing wonders at the depths of the ocean.

This classic adventure tale was first published in 1870. Verne creates an imaginative and wondrous world; in this and other books, I marvel at what he creates, especially because so many of the things he envisioned actually came true. There are scenes that had me literally on the edge of my seat (the trip beneath the South Pole, the encounters with giant squid, and the hunt through an underwater forest to name three), but there were also long passages that detailed the scientific classifications of the many varieties of underwater life that just about had me nodding off.

Nemo is a marvelous villain – with a seductive genius and a capacity to be charming and welcoming, and yet with a narcissistic bent which makes him rather insufferable. More importantly is his deep-seated hatred of man and all things “earth-bound.” His skewed view of the world and mankind makes him a very dangerous man – to himself and to others. Verne never really explains what drove Nemo to his drastic decision to live solely aboard the Nautilus. I would read a novel that explored the situations that resulted in the man presented here.

James Frain did a fine job narrating the audiobook. There are many passages of scientific data, and he managed to sound excited even about those! I definitely got the sense of awe that Arronax and his companions would have felt at witnessing these things “that no man has seen before.”

As is my habit with audiobooks, I also had a text version handy to check for spellings or unusual phrases. But the text I had did NOT include much of the scientific data that Frain was reading in the audio version. Long passages were simply left out of the text. I’m sure it makes for easier reading, and probably does not detract much from the story or from the central conflict.

[jonathanbuys · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

I know it's a classic, but come on... How many descriptions of fish do we need?

[bookson23rd · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

What a wonderful amazing story!!
~Stephannie

[benuathanasia · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Given this tale's reputation, I was expecting a rip-roaring adventure of man against nature, technology versus beast, maybe even a bit of pirate-style swashbuckling excitement. Instead, I got a travelogue - the diary of a scientist classifying life below the ocean. The famed squid that seems to figure so heavily in every retelling of 20,000 Leagues factors into a single chapter out of forty-seven. That being said, I still enjoyed it. I just wish it wasn't so horribly mis-sold (kinda like when someone accustomed to Boris Karloff and Halloween costumes reads the original Frankenstein for the first time. It's still great, it's just...not what you've been told to expect).

[m_k_m_1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

"At ten o'clock in the evening the sky was on fire. The atmosphere was streaked with vivid lightning. I could not bear the brightness of it; while the captain, looking at it, seemed to envy the spirit of the tempest."

A disappointment, albeit one with some treats. The book is slow and wilfully digressive (all those fish), but in its characterisation of Captain Nemo it is superb: a man who would shut himself off from the world but is too angry to leave it alone; frustrated by the fact his anger does not mean more, using his grief to justify a position of moral arbiter despite his obvious crimes. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a terrific character study entombed in an almost interminable record of imagined oceanography.

[kakadoo202 · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

there is only so many report on fish you can take in a book. After a while every coral looks like the other. And lots of unanswered questions. Where did Capt Nemo come from. What about the strange language? What happened that he decided to hide in his submarine. Maybe for 1860, this was a great adventure book, but now it is simply dated.

[sturlington_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

I read the abridged version with my 6-year-old son. What a great adventure--we both enjoyed it.