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greeniezona's review against another edition
4.0
The cover design of this book snagged me as I was browsing at the Strand. It's practically everything I want in a book -- striking cover, small format, French flaps! I mean, it is Jules Verne, who I always feel I should like, but still I'd never managed to successfully finish reading one of his books. But I'd never heard of this one. Then I looked at the synopsis, and it sounded like polar fiction to me! Of course I had to buy it.
As the main characters of the story are the Gun Club of Baltimore, who, when we last saw them, managed to send men to the moon and back using a giant cannon, it seemed at first that we should be rooting for them. But also, from the very beginning, the story felt like a cautionary tale against unrestrained capitalism. The Gun Club buys the North Pole, which they expect to be a treasure trove of coal, if only one could mine it. But, of course, they have a plan -- to use even large cannons this time, to turn the entire Earth and give it a new axis of rotation.
Other than one section where I gave myself a headache trying to envision the result of their little adjustment (picturing 3D rotations not being my strong suit), for a good portion of the book what I most wanted was to hunt down all the members of the Gun Club and shake them within an inch of their lives. Because they can do this thing, and it will benefit them, there's never any question of whether they should do it, even when they predict that large inhabited areas of the earth will then be underwater. That's somebody else's problem. Especially since this whole thing is a scheme to get more coal, it's easy to image this all as a modern climate change allegory. There, to, there's a few people I'd like to see rounded up and put in jail.
Anyway, for all that, the book was surprisingly enjoyable. Pushed through the dry parts (Oh, Verne has some dry parts!) just fine. Maybe now it's time to retry some of the more classic Verne stories?
As the main characters of the story are the Gun Club of Baltimore, who, when we last saw them, managed to send men to the moon and back using a giant cannon, it seemed at first that we should be rooting for them. But also, from the very beginning, the story felt like a cautionary tale against unrestrained capitalism. The Gun Club buys the North Pole, which they expect to be a treasure trove of coal, if only one could mine it. But, of course, they have a plan -- to use even large cannons this time, to turn the entire Earth and give it a new axis of rotation.
Other than one section where I gave myself a headache trying to envision the result of their little adjustment (picturing 3D rotations not being my strong suit), for a good portion of the book what I most wanted was to hunt down all the members of the Gun Club and shake them within an inch of their lives. Because they can do this thing, and it will benefit them, there's never any question of whether they should do it, even when they predict that large inhabited areas of the earth will then be underwater. That's somebody else's problem. Especially since this whole thing is a scheme to get more coal, it's easy to image this all as a modern climate change allegory. There, to, there's a few people I'd like to see rounded up and put in jail.
Anyway, for all that, the book was surprisingly enjoyable. Pushed through the dry parts (Oh, Verne has some dry parts!) just fine. Maybe now it's time to retry some of the more classic Verne stories?
midnightcomets's review against another edition
4.0
3.8/5 stars
This year, I decided to read as many classics as I can, and so far, this choice has been very amusing. Even in the case of this story, which was the ultimate roller coaster, making me either turn the pages at an alarming pace or roll my eyes at the overwhelming descriptions of mathematics, physics and technical terms, I still found myself enjoying it.
This follows the story of the famous Baltimore's Gun Club, which tried to change the axis of the earth. If this sounds weird enough, wait until you see how greatly Verne manages to frame the story with real scientific findings, and even predicts a lot of climate change reactions that we fear today. The characters in this were all quite eccentric and obsessed with their job, as Verne's characters usually are, and I really liked that there was a major female character, even though her portrayal was a bit "stereotypical". As always, I had some problems with a few opinions portrayed in this, but considering the era, it was still interesting.
The plot had a few twists I did not expect, which is why despite the tiring descriptions, I did enjoy it. In fact, the last twist was absolutely incredible, and I should have seen it coming, but still didn't, considering I wasn't used to this kind of endings in Verne's books.
Overall, my classics readings this year are going well, and it makes me really happy ♥ Please, take care of yourselves and stay safe ♥ Until the next review, keep reading ♥
~Mary ♥
This year, I decided to read as many classics as I can, and so far, this choice has been very amusing. Even in the case of this story, which was the ultimate roller coaster, making me either turn the pages at an alarming pace or roll my eyes at the overwhelming descriptions of mathematics, physics and technical terms, I still found myself enjoying it.
This follows the story of the famous Baltimore's Gun Club, which tried to change the axis of the earth. If this sounds weird enough, wait until you see how greatly Verne manages to frame the story with real scientific findings, and even predicts a lot of climate change reactions that we fear today. The characters in this were all quite eccentric and obsessed with their job, as Verne's characters usually are, and I really liked that there was a major female character, even though her portrayal was a bit "stereotypical". As always, I had some problems with a few opinions portrayed in this, but considering the era, it was still interesting.
The plot had a few twists I did not expect, which is why despite the tiring descriptions, I did enjoy it. In fact, the last twist was absolutely incredible, and I should have seen it coming, but still didn't, considering I wasn't used to this kind of endings in Verne's books.
Overall, my classics readings this year are going well, and it makes me really happy ♥ Please, take care of yourselves and stay safe ♥ Until the next review, keep reading ♥
~Mary ♥
preciouslittlebook's review against another edition
4.0
3.8/5 stars
This year, I decided to read as many classics as I can, and so far, this choice has been very amusing. Even in the case of this story, which was the ultimate roller coaster, making me either turn the pages at an alarming pace or roll my eyes at the overwhelming descriptions of mathematics, physics and technical terms, I still found myself enjoying it.
This follows the story of the famous Baltimore's Gun Club, which tried to change the axis of the earth. If this sounds weird enough, wait until you see how greatly Verne manages to frame the story with real scientific findings, and even predicts a lot of climate change reactions that we fear today. The characters in this were all quite eccentric and obsessed with their job, as Verne's characters usually are, and I really liked that there was a major female character, even though her portrayal was a bit "stereotypical". As always, I had some problems with a few opinions portrayed in this, but considering the era, it was still interesting.
The plot had a few twists I did not expect, which is why despite the tiring descriptions, I did enjoy it. In fact, the last twist was absolutely incredible, and I should have seen it coming, but still didn't, considering I wasn't used to this kind of endings in Verne's books.
Overall, my classics readings this year are going well, and it makes me really happy ♥ Please, take care of yourselves and stay safe ♥ Until the next review, keep reading ♥
~Mary ♥
This year, I decided to read as many classics as I can, and so far, this choice has been very amusing. Even in the case of this story, which was the ultimate roller coaster, making me either turn the pages at an alarming pace or roll my eyes at the overwhelming descriptions of mathematics, physics and technical terms, I still found myself enjoying it.
This follows the story of the famous Baltimore's Gun Club, which tried to change the axis of the earth. If this sounds weird enough, wait until you see how greatly Verne manages to frame the story with real scientific findings, and even predicts a lot of climate change reactions that we fear today. The characters in this were all quite eccentric and obsessed with their job, as Verne's characters usually are, and I really liked that there was a major female character, even though her portrayal was a bit "stereotypical". As always, I had some problems with a few opinions portrayed in this, but considering the era, it was still interesting.
The plot had a few twists I did not expect, which is why despite the tiring descriptions, I did enjoy it. In fact, the last twist was absolutely incredible, and I should have seen it coming, but still didn't, considering I wasn't used to this kind of endings in Verne's books.
Overall, my classics readings this year are going well, and it makes me really happy ♥ Please, take care of yourselves and stay safe ♥ Until the next review, keep reading ♥
~Mary ♥
bibliobone's review against another edition
5.0
Very good. Classic Baltimore Gun Club. It makes me wish Verne wrote more!
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