Jules Verne

Way back on this day in 1828, a great writer of fiction, Jules Verne was born in Nantes, France.  When you think of this writer, which one of his books comes to mind first?

His most well known books, such as A Journey to the Center of the  Earth, From the Earth to the Moon, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days, have been translated into most of the worlds languages and later, made into movies.  I have to admit that I haven't read these books but I did see the movies, does that count?

What is so very impressive about his books is that he wrote these (at the time) science fiction stories which, to the most part, came true later.  Let me take one book at a time.

A Journey to the Center of the Earth - Well no, no one has done that and will never do it because the center of the Earth is molten rock.  Of course, some deep wells have gone down deep enough to where things start to get hot.  In fact, some very deep mines get very warm at the bottom.

From the Earth to the Moon - Yep, has been done multiple times.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea - One League is three nautical miles long, so twenty thousand leagues would be over 60,000 miles and the Earth's diameter is only a little over 7900 miles.  That doesn't add up. . .

Around the World in 80 days. - In this day and age, that would be very, very slow.  Of course if you stopped to see all the great sights, it may take longer than 80 days.

Old Jules had quite a knack of looking into the future.  Gee, I wonder if he was really a time traveler. . .  OK, maybe not a time traveler in body, but his mind sure was.  Now, you all try to be happy in your own time and have a great day, you hear?