Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Penguin Popular Classics) - Softcover

From the Publisher

In mid-nineteenth century Europe, science fact and science fiction occupied twin thrones of the human imagination in a brave new world on the frontiers of discovery. The particular gift of Jules Verne, author of Around The World in 80 Days and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea as well as Journey to the Center of the Earth, was to ground his fiction in carefully researched science, to endow fantastic adventure with compelling realism.

Often called the father of science fiction, Verne forecast with eerie accuracy many scientific achievements of the twentieth century. Exploration of outer space, submarines, helpicopters, air conditioning, guided missiles and motion pictures all appear in his novels.

A multitalented actor, Shadoe Stevens reads this great journey. He starred in the highly rated comedy series, Dave's World on CBS. In addition to creating, writing and starring in commercials, he also hosted the world's biggest radio show, "American Top 40."

From the Inside Flap

The intrepid Professor Lindenbrock embarks upon the strangest expedition of the nineteenth century: a journey down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the Earth's very core. In his quest to penetrate the planet's primordial secrets, the geologist--together with his quaking nephew Axel and their devoted guide, Hans--discovers an astonishing subterranean menagerie of prehistoric proportions. Verne's imaginative tale is at once the ultimate science fiction adventure and a reflection on the perfectibility of human understanding and the psychology of the questor. As David Brin notes in his Introduction, though Verne never knew the term "science fiction," Journey to the Centre of the Earth is "inarguably one of the wellsprings from which it all began."