A Journey to the Centre of the Earth

As many others I read this J. Verne classic as a child and I was not planning on rereading it. But I got tempted by the preview of the illustrations in this “kindle in motion” edition and wanted to see more. I loved all of them! They are in perfect agreement with the spirit of the book. I enjoyed bright colors and clear details in some and mystical landscapes and flickering lights in others. They made me feel like being transferred into the enchanted word o Harry Potter where pictures in newspapers were moving. Kudos for Kilian Eng, the illustrator. I looked at some others “kindles in motions” but none were so appealing and so in sync with the book as these are.The book itself is a 5 star adventure/science/fantasy classic written in 1864. Language did not change much since 1864 so it may be easily read by the new young readers. The science of course did change a lot but good adventure remains a good adventure. The moving pictures add extra dimension to the book and extra magic to the fantastic tale. I hope “kindle in motion” and Mr. Eng will breathe a new life to other classic books.

There are really two considerations in reading/reviewing these masterworks now available in the public domain: first and foremost are the works themselves-how do they hold up, are they interesting still, and what might be gleaned from them. Secondly, and nearly as important for Kindle readers, is the formatting offered for the works. Too often, the rush to assemble the classic works of great writers into a mash-up at a cheap price makes it difficult for the modern reader to plow through. And those issues are here as well. There are formatting errors-paragraphs that aren't separated properly, the occasional misspelling and the missing words or repeated phrases. Still, they are not so plentiful as to make reading these novels so difficult and frustrating as to force the reader to give up at some point. That's the good news. And the readability of these seven novels proves that despite the long passage of time since they were written, they remain interesting and in some cases, even compelling. The plots move along with speed and with sharply drawn characters-Captain Nemo being a particular favorite. These may not appeal to everyone except perhaps from some historical perspective, but for those who particularly enjoy Science Fiction as well as Fantasy, Verne, along with H. G. Wells, created those genres and set the bar high. I recommend this version highly.

I am not very fond of illustrations in books as they can be inferior to what the reading can elicit in the imagination; so far I can say I loved the work of Kilian is quite beautiful and vindicates the existence of a kindle in motion version.About the novel: I had not read this novel before but at the end I adored it. After many books with the now standard clichés of pessimistic narration with the mandatory corny romance I felt the focus in mystery and exploring quite alluring. The beginning has a detective vibe with an encrypted message found inside a rare book by Snorri Sturluson; the journey of discovery that this short message provokes takes us to exotic countries and inside the Snæfellsjökull volcano, and beyond, inside the Earth... the different personalities of the three characters are charming and the discoveries transmit the epic happiness to reach places others have not reached.All in all the places referenced in this book (I mean the ones we can travel to) doesn't exist anymore in the narrated way: now they are standardized touristic destinations. Instead to get lost in the pages of this classic is an experience of traveling to them in a way one should experiment at least once.

I read this book because my 9 year old Grandson recommended it. (He is also advising me on this review) If you do not already know, be aware that this is a classic science fiction/adventure story written by Jules Verne in 1864. One reason to read the book is that it provides a fast-paced adventure story, good enough to have been made into several movies, and exciting enough to hold the interest of a 9 year old, despite an advanced vocabulary and a writing style that is a quite flowery compared to what is usually written for young adults. Another reason to read it is to get an idea of the understanding of, and speculations about paleontology and geology that were current around the middle of the 19th century. The scientific discussions and arguments about the interior of the earth between Axel, the young narrator of the story, and his imperious professorial uncle, reflect actual scientific debates going on around that time. I was also interested to discover that the "Ruhmkorff" apparatus that the adventurers used to provide light underground was actually known at that time - an ingenious battery-operated predecessor of the fluorescent light. I had assumed it was simply something Verne devised to allow his plot to proceed- although I am skeptical that it would work for as long as it appeared to work in the book. Although this is not a book you would read to learn about geology, it might be useful in learning about the history of our understanding of geology and paleontology.

"As long as the heart beats, as long as your body and soul keep together, I cannot admit that any creature endowed with a will has need to despair of life"I thought this book was brilliant and superbly well written by Venre as I will summarise below.It follows 3 main characters:-1) Professor Lidenbrock: a scientific genius who does not know when to quit even when the odds are less than 1% of success.2) His Nephew, Axel: our narrator - written in a similar way to Conon-Doyle's Sherlock Holmes or Leroux's - Joseph Routabille stories. The insider following and reporting on the bizarre genius of the main character. He is also highly intelligent but worries a bit too much. He is the more human/ emotional character is this death defying adventure.3) Hans: Our trusty hunter, servant, side-kick who is quiet, composed and saves every-ones life about 3 times.I analysed this book as having 3 divisions in the way the story was created and therefore progressed.To begin with - decoding a bizarre cipher, establishing the plot and the build up to the mission ending up in Iceland.Secondly, a quite sombre, despondent and slow segment about our gang penetrating the Earth via volcano and happenings in the seedy under-passages in the worlds crust. One scene truly stood out for me here which raised the tempo. Axel finds himself lost from his crew with no rations, no light - really know hope. This scene was harrowing and claustrophobic as a reader we obviously put ourselves in that nightmare scenario. That was gripping.Finally, about the last 40% is all full of over enthusiastic energy and vigour and it is great. Superbly paced narrative at this point including scenes of seeing fighting prehistoric monsters, being lost at sea in unbelievable and intense electric storms and if that all wasn't fun enough - to conclude they get rip-roaringly catapulted out of a volcano!! The book has some great set pieces.For some people I can see it is not an easy read. It is very science-based and used so much specialist language that it could put people off. I have said previously that wish wasn't an issue to me as I believe the effort you put in to a book rewards the overall outcome. I am not a scientist but if I want to be in this world I have to adapt, enjoy and sometimes even learn the relevant terminology to get in to the characters minds.The first 2 sections I mentioned were 4 star. The final section is 6 star - hence the review. It is reminiscent of Conon-Doyle's adventure tale The Lost World but instead of Professor Challenger and friends going up a formation/ mountain to find an amazing world, Professor Lidenbrock and chums do the opposite and go down. I will hopefully read another of the Extraordinary Voyages books soon and hope they follow in the same vein.James x[...]

I should have checked the number of pages (something I don't normally deem necessary to do) for this version, as it seems to be a childlike oversimplification of the story. Whereas other sources state the true book should be around 200 pages, this is a mere 30. The story is rushed through and you lose all sense of wonderment and discovery that I imagined this story would evoke.Don't make the same mistake I did, do not get this version.

Thank You Amazon Classics for re-printing this book.I relived my childhood days while reading this book. This was my first novel, I read it in 5th grade.Jules Verne was the author who's work gave me the wings of imagination, possibilities, courage.And this book needs no review at all. I'm sure, every literate person have read his work atleast once in their lifetime.Please grab a copy and shed off your regrets.

Axel cracks the code to a runic manuscript which reveals that its author has found a passage to the centre of the Earth. Professor Lidenbrock, his nephew Axel and their guide Hans descend the volcano in hopes of scientific discovery.To me the idea the idea of a “classic” that was a science-fiction book seemed almost oxymoronic. Nonetheless, I was drawn in by the concept and Verne did not disappoint with interesting ideas way ahead of his time. The discovery of an ocean so far below that had a tide and of prehistoric animals was very interesting and I enjoyed the explanations and discussions about these findings. The way that Lindenbrock and Axel would argue and debate their findings made it easier to understand for the reader.For me its main downfall was the focus on geology. Whilst Verne clearly has a strong knowledge of the discipline I couldn’t follow some of these sections. I couldn’t determine whether the basis of the ideas was sound or meant to be fiction.This book was unlike any other classic I’ve read so far and was a truly curious and remarkable concept.

I picked up this novel last September with the idea of reading it but never got around to it until after Christmas when I was bought a proper Kindle reader. This is the first book by Verne I have read and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. The writing style is descritive and engaging and (to a technically minded person) reads almost as a scientific paper. The way in which the journey is recorded and described is almost as if it were a real-life expedition that had been reported in a Journal.Despite some of the 1star reviews on here I have not noticed any strange tagging or evidence that it has been converted from another format, the page numbering is exact and the time left in chapter/book works fine.This has certainly spurred me on to read more by Verne, will probably go for Around the World in 80 Days next to see if that has the same descriptive style.