From the Earth to the Moon
By Victor Hugo
3.5/5
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About this ebook
Like much classic science fiction and fantasy writing, Jules Verne's novel From the Earth to the Moon seems comically anachronistic: a group of Civil War vets, who are still wistful about the glories of battle, devise a giant space gun to blast a manned capsule to the moon. But for as old-timey as it seems, much of the author's speculation actually matches the realities of the Apollo program a hundred years later, such as the name of the gun, the Columbiad, and the location of the launch site in Florida. Who knows whether they named the rocket after the gun, but it's interesting to ponder.
More examples of how life imitates art, or how art predicts reality, can be gleaned from Verne's book From the Earth to the Moon. Witness people today who long for the good old days, such as the copper and leather fashions of the Steampunks. And secondly, how his book predicts the US Military Industrial Complex. Spooky!
Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo (1802-1885) was a French poet and novelist. Born in Besançon, Hugo was the son of a general who served in the Napoleonic army. Raised on the move, Hugo was taken with his family from one outpost to the next, eventually setting with his mother in Paris in 1803. In 1823, he published his first novel, launching a career that would earn him a reputation as a leading figure of French Romanticism. His Gothic novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) was a bestseller throughout Europe, inspiring the French government to restore the legendary cathedral to its former glory. During the reign of King Louis-Philippe, Hugo was elected to the National Assembly of the French Second Republic, where he spoke out against the death penalty and poverty while calling for public education and universal suffrage. Exiled during the rise of Napoleon III, Hugo lived in Guernsey from 1855 to 1870. During this time, he published his literary masterpiece Les Misérables (1862), a historical novel which has been adapted countless times for theater, film, and television. Towards the end of his life, he advocated for republicanism around Europe and across the globe, cementing his reputation as a defender of the people and earning a place at Paris’ Panthéon, where his remains were interred following his death from pneumonia. His final words, written on a note only days before his death, capture the depth of his belief in humanity: “To love is to act.”
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Reviews for From the Earth to the Moon
467 ratings11 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First half Verne is very interested in the logistics of firing a vehicle to the moon. He spends a lot of time doing the math.The second half is more about the people and how they deal with the situation.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5According to the Introduction by Robert A. W. Lowndes, "From the Earth to the Moon" is the first story of a moon-flight using the rocket principle. The book was a success in its time, and given the incomplete publishing history I found, with the most recent edition published in 2006, is still a success. I would venture to say it has more to offer to today's audience than simply a classic adventure story, which it certainly remains. But it is also, today, a fascinating historical artifact, documenting to some extent the degree of scientific knowledge and sophistication of the 19th century audience. The story presents some scientific knowledge, which is useful; it presents other scientific conjectures which are laughable, but quaint (for instance, upon completion of the telescope, the country was awaiting word or sightings of settlements and "roaming herds of lunar animals"). Despite the antiquated science, the book continues to work as a classic adventure story, and Verne captures the excitement of the country's population monitoring the progress of the "great experiment"; it is easy to see why the book was a success, and it's enjoyable to consider the reactions of people reading it upon its initial publication.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mostly rather dull, lacking the sense of dynamism and adventure of Verne's other classics, at least until the final third of the novel when Captain Nicholls properly joins the plot as Michel Ardan's and Barbicane's antagonist. The early part of the book reads too much like a dry Victorian technical manual on casting cannons. I also find it difficult to get past the now ridiculous science.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I had heard people talk about this book, but had never taken the time to read it. Written in 1865, it is amazing that Verne got most of the science right. The main difference between the book and the actual moon shot some 100 years later was the placement of the propulsion system. The dialogue seems rather basic and the book is probably geared to more of a middle school type audience. The explanations of all the problems to be overcome and the discussions of the solutions became tedious at times, but Verne was just showing he had considered this story very carefully. This is still a classic and I recommend it to any science fiction fan. Jules Verne was truly a man way ahead of his time.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Surprisingly prescient in many ways, though some details were overlooked even by the standards of the time in which it was written (being shot out of canon capable of escape velocity – it's putting all its thrust into the initial shot and none thereafter, because it's not a missile – would cause sufficient g forces to kill you). Perhaps this is the fault of the characters, and not the author, but I cannot recall anyone involved having thought about how to get back.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What a quirky little book! The synopsis sounds ridiculous by today's standards; design a 900 foot cannon to shoot a huge ball to the moon using cotton impreganted with some highly flammable substance as 'fuel' (called Pyroxite)And yet the book is laced with good sound science that one would expect to find in a modern hard SF book! The distance to the moon is known as is its orbital velocity and details such as the apogee and perigee of the moon are figured into the itineray. Its all jolly good fun with a mild poke at the Americans-even though the main characters are American and it reads as if written by an American, at times one detects the odd poke at the 'Yankees' as Verne's character refers to his colleagues. A group called the Gun Club form with the intention of making bigger and better arms, but when peace is declared its members feel somehow deprived of an enemy to fight and so must look elsewhere. Then up pops the idea of a huge gun, bigger than anything they have seen before, and it will be used to fire a cannon at the moon to gain relations with the selenites up there (i.e. colonise!) and plant the American flag declaring the world theirs! But thats how people thought back in the day, and bear in mind this was written over 100 years before the 1969 moon landing!All in all quite incredible and great fun!
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5So boring, and you know most of this won't work now so you're thinking what's the point. The tech talk was mostly over my head too.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5While the science about the moon is certainly dated, this adventure is still chockful of enthusiastic suppositions about what might be on the moon. There were several sections which were dry calculations, but the chapters were short and the story kept moving. In fact, there were some assumptions Verne made which are very close to fact, and the troubles which the trio encounter in their projectile mirrored some of those of Apollo 13, many years later--and the characters prefigure some of the resolutions (think about the problems with oxygen). All in all, I enjoyed the read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whoa, thank goodness I didn't read the back cover of the book, or else several fun surprises would be spoiled.Holy Verne, it's been so long since my last fix of his work. Two years perhaps. From the Earth to the Moon is light but still well written. This book was published in 1865, more than a hundred years (!) prior to the first successful moon landing by the men of Apollo 11.I'm not able to prove all the scientific calculation and details described so eloquently here, but they're sure as hell convincing enough. Again, Verne never ceases to amaze me with his knack of making technical details to be interesting.He actually made some correct predictions, such as:1. the country who successfully sent a manned mission to the moon is the US. Well, he did manage to include a French guy to join the mission - nationalistic interest perhaps?2. the two states contesting to be the launch site were Florida and Texas. Yep, and Florida won too in real life.3. the shape of the capsule and there were three people on board. Remember Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins?Verne did see far into the future. And he complemented all of those with wisecracking humor in between. Je vous adore beaucoup, monsieur!Distance is an empty word, distance does not exist!Believe in the power of imagination and let it flow, because you'll never know what the future holds.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A very quaint period piece with some satire and hyperbole thrown in for fun.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Once the Civil War has ended the members of the Baltimore Gun Club are without a purpose; they had been busy improving weaponry during the war. Their president, Impey Barbicane, has a compelling idea, however. They will build a giant cannon and send a projectile to the moon!
The fourth of the Extraordinary Voyages series, this was first published in 1865. That was 104 years before the USA actually did send a man to the moon, and it’s interesting to read the “science” and compare Verne’s suppositions with what actually happened in 1969.
Verne populates the novel with a colorful cast of characters. The members of the Gun Club are mostly veterans, and many had been severely injured on the battlefield: “Pitcairn calculated that in the Gun club there was not quite one arm for every four men, and only one leg for every three.” But these men are hardly disabled; they have the courage of their convictions and nothing will deter them from achieving their goals. There’s a great deal of humor in the interactions between the characters, as they argue among themselves what properties the cannon and projectile will have and where and when the launch will take place.
It was an enjoyable adventure tale, though I admit to skimming over much of the scientific calculations. It’s easy to see why these Extraordinary Voyages have remained popular for over a century.