Audiobook · read by volunteers
Round the Moon
Jules Verne (1828–1905)
Read by Laurie Anne Walden, Leonie Rose, Lizzie Driver, Esther, Scott Robbins, Tammy Sanders, webslog · 24 chapters · 6 h 03
About the book
Round the Moon takes up the story exactly where From the Earth to the Moon left off. Three travellers, Barbicane, Nicholl and the Frenchman Michel Ardan, have been fired into space inside a projectile, and the reader has been left waiting in suspense. Now we follow them on their journey through the void: unexpected accidents, scientific puzzles, strange views of the lunar surface and a debate about whether they will land or merely circle. Jules Verne combines imaginative storytelling with a passion for facts, calculations and discoveries, and he lets his characters argue, joke and marvel as they go. The pages that Verne wrote more than a century ago retain their energy and curiosity. Twenty-four sections, read by seven volunteers, last about six hours. The book is a great choice for lovers of early science fiction and of adventure with a sense of wonder.
Introduction
Jules Verne, who lived from 1828 to 1905, was a French writer whose novels of science and adventure made him one of the most widely translated authors in the world. Around the Moon appeared in 1870 as the sequel to From the Earth to the Moon, and the two were later combined in some editions under the title A Trip to the Moon.
Verne wrote at a time when science and technology seemed to promise endless discoveries, and his books bring together scientific ideas and storytelling. His moon voyage, though it differs in many details from what later space travel turned out to be, is still enjoyable for its spirit.
The LibriVox recording has twenty-four sections, beginning with a preliminary chapter that summarises the earlier book, and lasts around six hours, with seven volunteers taking part. It can be enjoyed on its own, thanks to that introduction, but it will be even more satisfying for those who have heard the first part. It is a good example of how nineteenth-century imagination looked at the stars. Verne is at his most charming when he lets his scientists argue over calculations and his French adventurer cut through them with a joke. That mixture of precision and play is what has kept his books alive. The group of readers helps to separate the three voices of the travellers, and the sections, though numerous, are short enough to make the book easy to follow.
Public domain
Jules Verne died in 1905: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text