Product Description

Lacking any urgent assignments at the close of the Civil War, the members of the elite Baltimore Gun Club decide to build a gun big enough to shoot a manned rocket to the moon.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #303754 in Books
• Published on: 1993-06-01
• Released on: 1993-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 240 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780553214208
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Review
Novel by Jules Verne, published as De la Terre a la Lune (1865) and also published as The Baltimore Gun Club and The American Gun Club. Although the novel was subtitled Trajet direct en 97 heures 20 minutes ("Direct Passage in Ninety-Seven Hours and Twenty Minutes"), the actual journey to the Moon was depicted in the book's sequel, Autour de la Lune (1870; Round the Moon). From the Earth to the Moon concerns a group of obsessive American Civil War veterans, members of the Baltimore Gun Club, who conceive the idea of creating an enormous cannon in order to shoot a "space-bullet" to the Moon from a site in Florida. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

Language Notes
Text: English, French (translation)

From the Publisher
Written almost a century before the daring flights of the astronauts, Jules Verne's prophetic novel of man's race to the stars is a classic adventure tale enlivened by broad satire and scientific acumen.

When the members of the elite Baltimore Gun Club find themselves lacking any urgent assignments at the close of the Civil War, their president, Impey Barbicane, proposes that they build a gun big enough to launch a rocket to the moon. But when Barbicane's adversary places a huge wager that the project will fail and a daring volunteer elevates the mission to a "manned" flight, one man's dream turns into an international space race.

Customer Reviews

An Obsolete Translation--Barnes&Noble ISBN:0760765197
This translation, one of the Barnes and Noble "Classics Editions", is the 1874 English translation by Edward Roth, a Philadelphia school-teacher. In no sense a translation, it is more a parody or retelling of the French original with many embelishments and additions by the author. The editor is Aaron Parett, an English professor from Montana. In an appendix the editor mentions that for furthur reading one might try the complete translation by Walter James Miller, "The Annotated Jules Verne: From the Earth to the Moon" published by Crowell: 1978 and reprinted by Gramercy: 1995. (In reading reviews, make sure the review applies to this ISBN: 07060765197)

A wildly entertaining story
While I naturally have long admired Jules Verne for his outstanding scientific vision and prodigious talent as a writer, I really had no idea that he could also write in such an entertaining and humorous fashion as revealed in this short novel. My memories of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea consist to a large degree of stretches of pages devoted to pure scientific language that could be hard to get through, but this book is an easy read full of action and laugh-out-loud commentary. Don't get me wrong, though--the science is here, and Verne goes into a lot of details concerning the project from conception to reality, walking us through all of the steps involved in constructing the cannon and its projectile. Surely, though, Verne knew that the very idea of launching men to the moon via a superhuge cannon was not really an idea that could work; as such, he lets the story and especially his characterizations of the main players in the drama, take center stage over the science. What we end up with is a study of sorts of the American character, a tribute to the power of imagination and dreaming, the glorification of science, and a very funny story about some really amazing characters.

I can not begin to relate the number of truly humorous anecdotes and observations filling the pages of this story. Barbicane, J. T. Maston, and Michel Ardan are quite memorable characters, and their acts and exploits will entertain you to no end. Verne introduces subtle but hilarious remarks and observations throughout the entire book that will make you laugh out loud. If the idea of hard scientific theorizing has scared you away from Verne, pick this book up and be wholly entertained. I would recommend, though, that you pick up a copy that also contains the sequel, Round the Moon. This first book essentially culminates in the firing of the men into space inside the projectile, and you will certainly want to read the story of what happens to the men afterward. I now have to find a copy of the second book, so I urge others to save yourselves time and buy both stories in one package.

Preparations for a cannon shot to the moon.
This is a prophetic, both scientifically and socially, novel by Jules Verne that was first published in 1865. Verne was a satiric critic whose novel strongly hints at the future military industrial complex. This story depicts a club of artillery experts, the Baltimore Gun Club, bemoaning the end of the U. S. Civil War. The President of the Club, Impey Barbicane, comes up with a new project: a cannon shot to the moon. The idea for having passengers comes from a Frenchman. Most of the novel is concerned with the preparations for the launch which occurs at the end of the book. The story continues in Verne's sequel, "Round the Moon" (1870). It's amazing how many things Verne correctly predicted. Verne was perhaps the first author who attempts to make his novels agree with the science known at his time, although there are still mistakes. Verne is also making a number of political points as well in comparing the freedom observed in the U. S. and the real lack of such freedom in France of the 1860s. Readers should also note that Walter James Miller has provided an annotated edition of this novel in 1978 that is excellent.