Scan barcode
kmas2002's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
It dragged on and on. The first part of the book seemed unnecessarily long and could just have easily been 1/4th of the length. Not a lot of exciting things happened. One upside that I enjoyed about the book was the banter between the three main characters. Other than that it was boring, but not a horrible read, and I don't regret reading it. But it bored me a lot of the time I spent with it.
thurminator's review
4.0
7/10.
Actually quite enjoyable. I listened to the free LibriVox version of this, and the narrator was so talented that it turned what might have been a long and dry book into a very engaging story with entertaining and varied characters. The justification for the premise comes across today as highly satirical of American gun culture. Essentially the members of the Baltimore Gun Club are bored after the US civil war, and, despite most of them now lacking arms and/or legs of varying degrees from combat, they bemoan the inability to continue to develop and make use of their weaponry. The various members try to come up with ideas to start another war sometime soon, but can't come up with any good ideas. The president of the Gun Club concludes that they should make the largest gun of all time and launch a projectile onto the moon. The entire world enters a joyous frenzy over this plan and donates over a million dollars to make it happen. Hilarious.
The long descriptions of the science behind the "projectile" were quite thorough (and not everything was totally off base surprisingly) if a bit boring, but the book still held my attention for the duration and compelled me to start the sequel right after. The eloquent language Jules Verne wrote in is good for some personal vocabulary extension as well. I imagine it would have been far more difficult to read than to listen to, but as I said, the narrator, Mark Smith, did a fantastic job of bringing the book to life.
Actually quite enjoyable. I listened to the free LibriVox version of this, and the narrator was so talented that it turned what might have been a long and dry book into a very engaging story with entertaining and varied characters. The justification for the premise comes across today as highly satirical of American gun culture. Essentially the members of the Baltimore Gun Club are bored after the US civil war, and, despite most of them now lacking arms and/or legs of varying degrees from combat, they bemoan the inability to continue to develop and make use of their weaponry. The various members try to come up with ideas to start another war sometime soon, but can't come up with any good ideas. The president of the Gun Club concludes that they should make the largest gun of all time and launch a projectile onto the moon. The entire world enters a joyous frenzy over this plan and donates over a million dollars to make it happen. Hilarious.
The long descriptions of the science behind the "projectile" were quite thorough (and not everything was totally off base surprisingly) if a bit boring, but the book still held my attention for the duration and compelled me to start the sequel right after. The eloquent language Jules Verne wrote in is good for some personal vocabulary extension as well. I imagine it would have been far more difficult to read than to listen to, but as I said, the narrator, Mark Smith, did a fantastic job of bringing the book to life.
marta0r's review against another edition
3.0
I got into this book without knowing much other than its title and was a bit taken aback when it started explaining all about the Gun Club and its members at the beginning. However, once they started focusing on the topic of the moon I really enjoyed all of their discussions to get to their objective.
nick_latanick's review against another edition
2.0
A long way to go for an only slightly amusing punchline of an ending.
h_andreanne's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
osteele98's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
A little boring but a very novel concept that's executed well and very amusingly
lumpymint's review against another edition
4.0
Another enjoyable read, but considerably heavier on the science than HG Wells Time Machine.
Fascinating to read all the theories and calculations and a lot of work must have gone into generating this story, which must have been amazing to read when published in 1865.
The moon 100 years past the publication date was within reach, and it is amazing to read the theories about how we could get there, and I have to say, Verne was not far off. Yes the idea of a big gun is a little way out there, but all the necessary requirements of thrust and power seem right, and at least logically calculated in their predictions if not an accurate premonition.
MAJOR SPOILER
the three intrepid explorers missing their target of the moon, and instead being drawn into orbit to go around the satellite, I feel is a scary prediction of Apollo 13, will they make ever make it back?
Fascinating to read all the theories and calculations and a lot of work must have gone into generating this story, which must have been amazing to read when published in 1865.
The moon 100 years past the publication date was within reach, and it is amazing to read the theories about how we could get there, and I have to say, Verne was not far off. Yes the idea of a big gun is a little way out there, but all the necessary requirements of thrust and power seem right, and at least logically calculated in their predictions if not an accurate premonition.
MAJOR SPOILER
the three intrepid explorers missing their target of the moon, and instead being drawn into orbit to go around the satellite, I feel is a scary prediction of Apollo 13, will they make ever make it back?
therog's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0