| Text Source: |  |
| Description: | Translation of Cinq semaines en ballon . |
| Table of Contents: | Not available |
Product Description
Explorer Samuel Ferguson, accompanied by his manservant Joe and his friend Richard "Dick" Kennedy, sets out to travel across the African continent - still not fully explored - with the help of a hot-air balloon filled with hydrogen. He has invented a mechanism that, by eliminating the need to release gas or throw ballast overboard to control his altitude, allows very long trips to be taken.
Customer Review: An Awful Conversion
The Kindle conversion of this translation apparently has hard-coded carriage returns . The body of the text has left widows throughout. Modifying the justification did no good. It is nearly unreadable from a mere failure to strip the returns.
Customer Review: A grand adventure across an unknown continent.
This is a tale of defying convention and attempting the impossible. To travel across unforgiving Africa at a time when so many had tried and ended up dead for their efforts presents quite a challenge. To do so in an untested but ingenious new invention only adds to the romance. As you follow Dr. Ferguson, Mr. Kennedy, and faithful Joe on their daring adventure you get quite a tour of a continent that for centuries had defied European exploration. While most of the voyage is spent in rather peaceful observation and light-hearted conversation, there are a number of times that incredible danger threatens and the heroes must rely on Providence alone to see them through.
As Verne's first book, published in French in 1863, FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON is obviously a product of its time, with frequent phrasings and descriptions of African natives that would likely be pretty insulting to civil rights activists. Also, I'm sure many animal activists would be appalled at the rather brutal and uncaring attitude towards all manner of creatures. It just goes to show you how far we've come in the last 150 years.
Jules Verne's scientific aptitude is on display in this book, with relatively complex and believable descriptions of the mechanisms required for long-distance hydrogen balloon flight. Fancies such as these have led many to consider Verne to be the originator of science fiction. He was also obviously quite a history buff, with complete descriptions of previous African explorations found throughout this book.
A light and fun read, and a great example of Verne's style.
Customer Review: Jules Verne's First
Originally published in 1863, "Five Weeks in a Balloon" was Jules Verne's First novel. In its pages, one can see some of the elements that were eventually to come together to form such great stories as "Around The World In Eighty Days", and "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea". In this story, Dr. Ferguson creates a hydrogen balloon for the purpose of exploring the unknown regions of Africa. He decides to take along Dick Kennedy, a Scotsman with whom he became friends when they served in the same regiment and who tries to dissuade him from making the journey, and Joe, who is his faithful servant. As one might expect, parts of this story are dated, and some of the language regarding the natives undoubtedly would offend many people if one were not to take into account when it was written. Still, it is an enjoyable book to read, and rates somewhere between 3 and 4 stars in my opinion.
The [other] publishing firm's bare-bones version of the book. There is no foreword or introduction discussing the life of Jules Verne, or the context of the times in which it was published. It simply contains the story, and nothing else. It has a good solid binding, and the print is easy to read. For some reason, they elected to put an extra line between each of the paragraphs, but this makes it even easier to read. All the extra white space also makes it a much quicker read then one would expect.
Customer Review: Five weeks in a ballon
This book is very exiting because ti makes you fell like you are really inside the book i would recomended for kids from 9 years old to adult
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