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    20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
    20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
    20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
    Audiobook (abridged)2 hours

    20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

    Written by Jules Verne

    Narrated by John Carlisle

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    The year is 1866. The maritime world is gripped by fear after reported sightings of a huge and terrible sea monster. Monsieur Aronnax, a distinguished Professor of Natural History, pronounces the creature to be a giant narwhal and is invited to join an official expedition to track down the beast. But Professor Aronnax is proved wrong; the beast is not of the natural world, but a huge submarine. When he is pulled out of the sea by the enigmatic Captain Nemo, and imprisoned on the Nautilus, he experiences at first hand the marvels and perils of submarine life. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is possibly the first and finest work of science fiction plausible, terrifying and utterly gripping.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNaxos Audiobooks
    Release dateAug 16, 1994
    ISBN9789629545765
    Author

    Jules Verne

    Jules Gabriel Verne was born in the seaport of Nantes, France, in 1828 and was destined to follow his father into the legal profession. In Paris to train for the bar, he took more readily to literary life, befriending Alexander Dumas and Victor Hugo, and living by theatre managing and libretto-writing. His first science-based novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon, was issued by the influential publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel in 1862, and made him famous. Verne and Hetzel collaborated to write dozens more such adventures, including 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 1869 and Around the World in 80 Days in 1872. In later life Verne entered local politics at Amiens, where had had a home. He also kept a house in Paris, in the street now named Boulevard Jules Verne, and a beloved yacht, the Saint Michel, named after his son. He died in 1905.

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    Reviews for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

    3.5/5

    125 ratings93 reviews

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    • 4/5
      #BBRC #RealClassic#ReadHarder#booked2020#Popsugar#BeatthebacklistI read this story as a Great Illustrated Classic when I was a child. I remember loving it, but now I just feel cheated. The origianl story is so expressive and amazing, and all that stuff was cut out to dumb the book down for younger readers. I am no longer a fan of GIC and have not been for a while. I hate when these are the only stories kids have in their home/class or in their libraries.There were so many things I missed as a child that I catch now. Like how people thought they were hunting a giant dangerous narwhal, when actually it was the Nautilus. Or how the Nautilus was a type of prison. The same type of prison I sit in now for Covid-19. All the luxuries and things I love and plenty to keep me interested, but still isolated and scary. Until reading the full version of 20,000 Leagues I always thought of Captain Nemo as a type of pirate. He isn’t at all. He is a scared and lonely old man. Why else would he escape to the sea with no desire to see land again if he was not scared of something.I listened to this book. And while it was a bit slow, and sometimes boring as they describe the various sea creatures, overall it was a great story that I would listen to again. And to think it was written almost 150 years ago. H.G. Wells knows or guessed more about the depths of the ocean than many modern scientists. This book has held the test of time, and I think that 100 years from now it will still be considered relevant.
    • 1/5
      It was Horrible u shouldnt read it i hated it! it was boring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    • 3/5
      As a piece of proto science-fiction 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was more or less what I expected. There is some adventure here, but mostly Verne uses the book to discuss his imagined designs of a submarine, diving suits, and other nautical equipment. Also explored is Verne's knowledge of ocean life and the wrecks that have happened therein, as well as his speculation as to the nature of the South Pole and Antarctica. Most of this (besides Antarctica) is quite accurate for the time, though this stopped being so impressive to me when I did some research and found out that much of the equipment Verne described actually existed in at least the prototype stage when Verne was writing this. There is a degree of Verne foreseeing the future of marine technology here, but it is a lesser degree than you might expect. Otherwise the narrative takes the form of a travelogue, hitting a large number of underwater adventure scenarios, but these segments were not overly engaging. Anyway, this might be a good read for you if you are interested in early science fiction or submarine life as conceived in the 1800s, but be prepared for lots of mechanical specifications, discussions of sea currents, and catalogues of fish and not so much in the way of actual excitement.
    • 4/5
       There's some unknown sea monster and it's destroying ships by gouging giant punture marks in them. Surmise is that it is a giant narwhal type creature and so the US Navy sends a boat out to chase it down. They do indeed find the creature, but it's not flesh and blood, it's a giant electric submarine. In the chase, our narrator, the french professor of biology, his servant and the Canadian harpooner get swept off the small boat and land on the submarine, where they are taken in and treated as captives, at least initially.They meet the ships captain, the enigmatic Captain Nemo and so begins a circumnavigation of the globe by submarine. You could argue that the descriptions of the South Pole and the passage between the Red and Mediterranean seas are quite unrealistic - but this was 50 years before men went to the South pole, and so is nothing more than an amazing flight of fancy. The descriptions of the fish became slightly dull after a while, (seen one & you've seen them all) but the story rolls along. Who Nemo is and what drives him to escape under the sea remains a mystery to me. A good read, and shows a hugely inventive mind at work.
    • 3/5
      An okay read for me. Highly detailed, but those details tended to get a bit long-winded and I found myself getting bored with them after a while. I would have liked a little more insight into the personality of Captain Nemo and exactly what happened to make him shun the world. I felt like that was a very important part that seemed to be missing.
    • 4/5
      This novel tells the story of Captain Nemo and his submarine, the Nautilus. The story is narrated by a Professor Aronnax, who by accident and chance becomes a part of the ships crew, along with his servant and a whaler called Ned. They travel the seas, exploring the many wonders that the oceans normally keep hidden beneath its waves. I enjoyed the book throughout, however, the beginning and the end chapters are the most interesting, having more adventure to them. Verne is a lover of scientist and he can't help going on and on about the new species of fish and plant life beneath the waves, which are a wonder to the Professor narrating, but all sort of blurs together as any long list of names and descriptions would do. It fits perfectly with the character, of course, since he would have been deeply fascinated by such things, but it's a bit tedious for the reader.
    • 4/5
      Phew, this took me ages to read. I had to dip in and out over quite a long period of time. Not because it was bad, no, just because of the sheer amount of information and description in every paragraph. If anyone wants a natural history tour of the oceans this is it, and it is fascinating. I even went and looked up some of the creature described in here so I could better picture it . The adventure that comes along with the education is somewhat sidelined by the geographical and biological information but is in itself quite exciting.It is very poorly paragraphed, as I'm sure is the main complaint, but that just means it is not one of those books you can read over a couple of days, and why is that a bad thing? Savour the descriptive prose and imagine you are also captive with the insane genius of Captain Nemo.
    • 5/5
      I loved this story when I was a kid and my rating is based on those memories. I doubt I would rate it lower if I read it again.
    • 3/5
      If you are interested in the state of ichthyology in the 1860's this is the book of you. Every new area visited starts with an extensive list of the flora & fauna of the ocean and as far as I can tell is the most scientifically accurate part of the book, the rest sadly does not hold up as well. This mostly feels like a research project hung over a very loose plot. There is little story or plot and no character development to be found. The central mystery of the who and why of Nemo is only resolved in the most superficial manner. While it is somewhat interesting to see what was state of the art in the mid 19 century this is a story crying out for an abridged version.
    • 4/5
      I can understand some of the criticism surrounding this book. At times there are tedious lists of marine fauna and the latitude stuff is something I just skipped. But it is still a good yarn when it comes down to it and a bit of a classic.
    • 3/5
      I read this for the Steampunk category of the SF Reading Challenge on Shelfari.

      Although the story was very interesting and well-written, I found that it dragged at times due to the great amount of detail that Verne included. It often seemed that I was reading a natural history reference on the flora and fauna of the world's oceans.

      That said, I would recommend it since it was an enjoyable read. This would also qualify for the category of Work not originally published in English.
    • 4/5
      I first read this book when I was eight. While my classmates were rushing against one another to bring home Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, I was devouring our library's collection of Verne and Sherlock Holmes books. They were thick, with huge prints and illustrations - clearly intended for kids. One time, I took out a book in the morning, read it during breaktimes, then returned it in the afternoon of that same day before I went home.Of all the titles in that collection, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea ended up being my favorite. So, more than ten years later, when I saw it again in the bookstore, I knew I just had to relive the adventure again. It had been a light and fast read in that small, thick book from third grade, so I certainly didn't expect it to be long and, frankly speaking, quite dragging in its unabridged form. That said, it was still a better adventure than before. If Verne didn't expound too much on the sea creature naming, this book would've been paced faster, but less believable too since he wrote it in a professor's point of view.In all, I still loved it and I look forward to re-reading his two other books that I first read a decade ago: Around The World In 80 Days, and A Journey to the Center of the Earth.
    • 4/5
      Somehow this manages to be quite fascinating, despite the fact that the plot is only touched upon and large sections of the book are nothing more than descriptions of various denizens on the sea. It is hard not to find the narrator's pompous arrogance ridiculous to the point of amusement.
    • 3/5
      Good book !
    • 3/5
      I don’t know what I exactly expected from this book, but not exactly this. I think I anticipated more plot and action. And this book is very erudite.

      This is not really my thing. But still I’m amazed with the amount of information and knowledge contained in this book. Nowadays, we do not have a problem with access to detailed information on any topic, you can search virtually anything on the internet. But at a time when Verne wrote his book, this amount of information had to be impressive and required some serious research. All these curiosities included in the book were then completely unknown to the readers. I imagine that they had to ignite the imagination back then.

      Unfortunately, times have changed and now this accumulation of encyclopedic information is a bit boring. Enumeration of all kinds of fish and marine animals is simply uninteresting for today's reader who is looking for action and plot twists. And I am not an exception.

      Nevertheless, the book is a wonderful record of the scientific knowledge on the seas and oceans at the time. And this aspect is especially interesting for me. It's fascinating to catch a glimpse of how people saw the world 150 years ago. What interested them, what they were afraid of and how they imagined the future. And even more interesting is what they did not know then and what we already know now. Like the South Pole, which in Verne’s book looks very like Greenland which is very far from truth. And although the south pole is still studied by scientists, it is not a white patch on the map anymore.

      The same with regard to the use of electricity. The light bulb was not invented until around 1880. It was not until 1882 that factories in the United States began producing light bulbs. Verne published his book 10 years before this! The idea of an entire ship (and a submarine!) being electrically powered had to be something fantastic in the Verne era and beyond human imagination.

      Another aspect that I noticed reading this book is the perception of the world at the time. Even more valuable that it is not presented from the perspective of today's political correctness or an attempt to point out certain problems but shown in a way that was then quite natural. In the book we have a very well illustrated approach to colonialism and a way of thinking about the ‘savage’. And although today we have a completely different approach to these topics, contact with a report from the past helps us understand how our ancestors thought and how the world changed over years. Therefore, Captain Nemo who would be considered an ecologist and social activist even in more recent standards is an extremely interesting character.

      I’m glad I read this book even if it is not my favourite. It's fascinating to see how people imagined the future and what turned out to be true.
    • 4/5
      A true classic. It did have sections where the scientific detail got a bit overwhelming, but they were easily skimmed and did serve to help with the characterization. For the most part, the narrative kept moving and the characters were fully developed. I was slightly disappointed in the ending. After all those adventures, I wanted the best adventure to be the grande finale, but the author employed the deus ex machina by having the narrator fall into a state of unconsciousness where he (and the reader) essentially missed the last adventure. Sad. But overall, a good read.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this classic. It follows a group of sailors who are looking for a mysterious sea creature that has been seen around the world. As they are chasing it they are thrown overboard and captured by this "creature." It turns out to be a ship, or a kind of submarine, piloted by captain Nemo and his crew. The ship has been exploring the seas of the world and has no intention of letting the captors go. The group travels for month and several mysteries surface making captain Nemo more and more suspicious looking. They learn many secrets of the sea and see creatures that they would never have had the opportunity before.I loved the plot of this book. It had just enough fantasy and mystery to sustain my interest but it also had some very interesting information. Even though I did not have enough time to check up on all the animals that they encountered I learned a lot about many when doing outside research. It was very informative and could be useful in teaching such lessons in a classroom.The book is very well written but due to the original publication date the vocabulary is advanced. I would suggest it for older students. I learned many words myself and found it difficult to understand at times. At times Verne includes so many extensive details about their surroundings that it can be tedious to get through but it's worth it.
    • 2/5
      90% info dump. 10% plot
    • 5/5
      What a wonderful amazing story!!
      ~Stephannie
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed the descriptions
    • 3/5
       An interesting enough story to some extent, and an example of early "hard" sci-fi full of ideas and imagination. There are interesting and adventurous events in there, the kind I enjoyed as a lad in things like the X Adventure series by Willard Price. On the other hand, it's a bit of a slog. There are many, many sections where the protagonist simply lists the names of species - rarely saying anything about them, and even more rarely anything interesting, but simply listing them as though that should be interesting in its own right. There are little lectures here and there too, largely dry and unable to rouse my enthusiasm, and I say that as a biologist. On the other hand, I'll admit it's impressive that in 1870 Verne was already railing against the thoughtless havoc wrought on the natural world - and depressing to see how little effect it's had. I really do think, though, that it would have benefited from a kindly editor's hand to cut away some of the word-crust, leaving an interesting and adventurous book behind. As it is, I'm afraid I can't really recommend this book as the adventure story it seems to want to be, but only as a historical artefact for people with an interest in the genre. There are other books now that touch on similar content, lighter on the eye and the hand, and for most people I think they'd be a better option.
    • 4/5
      This has to be near the sourcewaters of speculative fiction. As I read this book, I felt like I could feel Verne's mind working: "If I could travel under the sea, what sorts of marvelous things would I find?" Early chapters function as a kind of check-list for these imagined wonders: enormous underwater volcanoes, Atlantis, giant squids, the South Pole. And the wonders discovered really are the stars of the adventure. The technology is imaginative and interesting, but only to a point. Captain Nemo is mysterious and conflicted, but served more for me as background noise all all the delicious "what if?"s.
    • 5/5
      I loved this story when I was a kid and my rating is based on those memories. I doubt I would rate it lower if I read it again.
    • 3/5
      There are some really good ideas in this book - The ideal of Captain Nemo's freedom, travelling in a wonderful and (at the time when it was written) innovative contraption The Nautilus, exploring the globe and not conforming to society in any way. The story was gripping in places but I had very high expectations of how fantastical this book was going to be, so I was a little bit disappointed at the lack of consistency regarding the excitement rating in the storytelling. Journey To The Centre Of The Earth is much better!
    • 3/5
      At first I thought that the title implied a great depth, but no, 20,000 leagues is how far our adventures sail, submerged in Captain Nemo's early submarine.Verne's dramatic descriptions are spot-on as always, but he does grow tiresome sometimes when he insists on naming every species observed under the sea - down to the genus and everything. This is a classic adventure that remains very much of its time without really sharing anything terribly special, unlike some of his other work - especially "80 Days."
    • 3/5
      What do you get when you combine marine biology from the late 1800s and an action-adventure classic? 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, of course!

      If you haven’t already read it or seen one of the many film adaptations, the novel follows Professor Arannox, an educated gentleman, and Conseil, his servant, on their search for knowledge within the ocean’s depths. Along the way, they encounter many wonders and meet the acquaintance of some intriguing characters, including the mysterious Captain Nemo.

      When the plot focuses on the conflicts our cast of characters face on their journey, the pages fly by. From kidnappings to shipwrecks, a lot happens in what could be considered a rather short novel. Unfortunately, where there’s adventure, there’s also quite a lot of seemingly unnecessary description. Much of the book focuses on various characters making observations about fish. Unless you’re a scientist with a keen interest in the biological classification of sea creatures, there’s not much that will intrigue you in those passages. The descriptions that did not bother me were those that detailed the intricacies of Captain Nemo’s vessel, the Nautilus. At the time the novel was published, submarines were still incredibly primitive, so it’s impressive that Verne was able to predict the future, in a manner of speaking.

      All of the main and supporting characters are fascinating, to say the least. Professor Aronnax values knowledge over freedom, Conseil takes great pride in his subservient position, Ned Land has a bloodlust for the hunt, and Captain Nemo, well, we don’t know much about him, do we? The level of secrecy he exudes kept me engaged until the bitter end. Verne has a subtle way with dialogue too. There were many moments, particularly in interactions between Ned and Conseil, which left me chuckling to myself.

      20,000 Leagues is a classic for a reason. As much as I disliked the long scientific passages, the novel certainly has its merits. If you’re bothered by the extensive marine life descriptions, I highly recommend skimming or skipping them completely if you’re concerned that they’re ruining your reading experience.
    • 3/5
      This one me a while but that's more down to me than the book. It certainly was a slow read and nothing like any movie version I've seen. One might say that not much happens and its not really very 'SF' but on the whole I quite enjoyed the ride!
    • 5/5
      this was my classic book i decided to read this year. it was a quick and easy read a little different then what i taught it was gonna be about but enjoyed it and would recommend it.
    • 3/5
      a good read
    • 3/5
      Taken as a 19th century man's insight of the future, the book is amazing and oddly prophetic. But as a novel it plods on very slowly, and rarely captures the attention. I have only read the English version, so perhaps something is lost in the translation.