Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

An adventurous geology professor chances upon a manuscript in which a 16th-century explorer claims to have found a route to the earth's core. Professor Lidenbrock can't resist the opportunity to investigate, and with his nephew Axel, he sets off across Iceland in the company of Hans Bjelke, a native guide.

The expedition descends into an extinct volcano toward a sunless sea, where they encounter a subterranean world of luminous rocks, antediluvian forests, and fantastic marine life — a living past that holds the secrets to the origins of human existence.

This book is full of ludicrous crazy ideas that do not comport with reality in anyway

That however is part of the fun of this book. It is for sure not character driven nor does it have any character development in any real way but it is full of adventure and a fun imaginitve ideas of what it is like in the center of the earth long before we knew anything about the actual make up of the earths crust or world

From underground oceans, to dinosaurs and prehistoric plants this book was honeslty entertaining.

That being said it is a bit dry in the writing style at times and the characters were a bit 2D, so it loses marks there but love the imagination behind this epic adventure, overall good, not great or amazing but good

I listened to the audiobook version of this narrated by Simon Prebble.

When reading/listening to an older book, I find it imperative to think like the people of that day and age. Journey to the Center of the Earth was originally written in the mid 1800s. (for American audiences, this is around the same time as the American Civil War). No cell phones, no internet, no air planes, no cars. The brave went on adventures, the majority of people didn't travel farther than their own town, or surrounding towns.

Much of what Jules Verne writes about sounds ridiculous to modern audiences. We know that most of what he writes about is impossible. He fills the book with facts that are passible to readers of the 1800s. Everything has an explanation, which makes the story seem more realistic. If I were to have read this back then, I'd have given the book 4.5 - 5 stars. There were some slower parts, but for the most part, it was a fast paced, heart pounding adventure. (this could also be due to Simon Prebble's fantastic narration). Regardless of its age, it is still an exciting read, and an enjoyable adventure book. Simon Prebble did a fantastic job narrating this story, and I look forward to listening to him again. I am also curious and excited to read the rest of Jules Verne's Extraordinary Voyages series.

This review is for the audio book version. While I do have the Tim Curry signature version, this review is not based on that version. Having seen the James Mason and Pat Boone movie, I had to listen to the book. This is one of the rare times when the book version lets me down compared to the movie. While the author writes well, to me, this seems more like a science education with a minor story thinly woven through it and that diminished the story for me. So much so that I'd faded out a few times while listening. Although it is true that the movie follows the basics of the story, I think I will always prefer the movie over the book. Please note that this is just my personal opinion.