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    Around the World in Eighty Days
    Around the World in Eighty Days
    Around the World in Eighty Days
    Audiobook6 hours

    Around the World in Eighty Days

    Written by Jules Verne

    Narrated by Patrick Tull and David Colacci

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Filled with fantasy, comedy and grand suspense, Around the World in 80 Days is classic entertainment that is sure to enchant listeners of all ages. When an eccentric Englishman named Phileas Fogg makes a daring wager that he can circle the globe in just eighty days, it's the beginning of a breathlessly-paced world tour. With his devoted servant Passepartout at his side, Fogg sets off on an adventurous journey filled with amazing encounters and wild mishaps. Pursued all the way by the bumbling Detective Fix, who believes the two travelers are bank robbers on the run, Fogg and Passepartout must use every means of transportation known to 19th-century man-including a hot-air balloon, a locomotive, and an elephant-to win the bet. When Jules Verne's delightful tale of two globetrotting gentlemen first appeared in 1873, it won the hearts-and imaginations-of readers across Europe. Published chapter by chapter over the course of many months, Around the World in 80 Days aroused so much excitement that readers placed bets on the outcome of Phileas Fogg's race against time.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateSep 16, 2011
    ISBN9781461812647
    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 Around the World in Eighty Days

    4/5

    72 ratings62 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This is a fun book filled with out-dated stereotypes, unlikely luck and a kick-ass ending. It should be required reading for travel students everywhere ;)
    • 2/5
      I actually found this quite boring.
    • 4/5
      I don't know why it took me so long to decide to read this. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters were great and the story fast-paced. Phileas Fogg - so incredibly "English". Passpartout - comical and loyal. Fix - so terribly, pitifully wrong. Aouda - Exotic and charming. And, a surprise ending.
    • 5/5
      My first Verne - and what an entertaining and humorous action-adventure-tale. OK, Jules Verne does not flesh out the characters so well - they are stereotypes - and the different cultures he describes are not very nuanced. But I can overlook that, because he's such a good storyteller. Here we have it all. A damsel in distress, gunfight on a train and several other events and accidents that try to slow down the punctual Phileas Fogg.
    • 4/5
      I wanted to like this book more than I did. I was going to give it a rating of two and a half stars halfway through the book, but two thirds of the way through, the excitement was turned up a notch. The story meanders along for a while with peaks and troughs; some phases exciting but some rather dull. It then starts to really pick up and I found myself turning the pages faster and faster as Verne built up the tension in the story. There are some really nice ideas in Jules Verne's work, but he isn't consistent in his storytelling as he tends to get bogged down with small and sometimes insignificant details. A Journey To The Centre Of The Earth is by far his best novel.
    • 5/5
      This is one of those classics that I should have read, but somehow managed to miss. Set in the 19th Century, it tells the tale of Phileas Fogg, an English gentleman who makes a bet that he can circumnavigate the world in only 80 days. 'Tis child's play in these days, but a major feat back then. Accompanied by his servant, Passepartout, and unknowingly pursued by one Detective Fix, Mr. Fogg makes his way around the globe. The question is, will he finish his journey in time? This one is one that has earned a place on my shelf.--J.
    • 4/5
      As I recall this book was a lot of fun! Oddly enough I have yet to see either of the movies, but the original Mike Todd one is "in my queue." Because of my lack of interest in "hard science fiction" it's the only Jules Verne book I've read, but it appears he was a good storyteller based on that.
    • 3/5
      I'm not sure which translation I read (it was the free English one on the Gutenberg Project) but I wasn't really engaged by this. I didn't like the characters, save for Passepartout, and the trip didn't have the suspense or creativity I've come to expect from Verne.
    • 4/5
      I found it a rough beginning, but the story fits together in such a satisfying way that it's so much fun to read. And the characters - lovely, every one of them. The hilarious and imaginative Passepartout, of course, and dear Phileas Fogg and poor, persistent Fix, all wonderful personalities on their own little stages. I don't think it was a great novel, but it was certainly a very good one.
    • 3/5
      This novel is light and entertaining for the most part. A delightful romp around the world, some fantastical adventures, all in the company of Philias Fogg and his valet, Passepartout. Let's see, a maiden snatched from being sacrificed, opium dens in China, daring adventures with Indians in the United States......quite a busy journey. The characters are all stereotyped by ethnicity, even if tongue-in-cheek, and the end was predictable from almost the beginning. It was okay.
    • 5/5
      I must admit that my motivation to read this book came from the book and TV series by Michael Palin (who attempted to go around the world in eighty days strangely enough in the 1980s). Palin’s journey was inspired by this classic.As you can probably guess, this book deals with Phileas Fogg’s attempt to go around the world in eighty days in the 1800s. Accompanied by his new but trusty servant, Passepartout, he leaves the Reform Club, London promising to return back in exactly eighty days. Armed with a book of timetables of ships and trains (as well as good luck), they begin their journey. However, Detective Fix is on Fogg’s trail, suspecting him of stealing from the Bank of England. Add to this a ride on an elephant, rescue of a young widow, a meeting with the Sioux and a circus troupe (not at the same time) and like Fogg, this book never stops. One thing you will learn is longitude and latitude in an important but fun way!I found this book fast paced and interesting. It read like a modern book to me, I had no problems with language or dreary bits. Fogg’s trip was interesting from both a cultural and historical perspective. Passepartout was just gorgeous with his devotion to Fogg and his journey.If you’ve never read a classic, I suggest you start with this one – it’s short and feels completely modern.
    • 5/5
      In Around the World in 80 Days, Jules Verne's main character, Phileas Fogg, is presented with a challenge. To journey around the world, all in 80 days. Phileas' attitude towards the journey is naive, but his servant, Passepartout, is worrisome about the journey, and the various gains and losses of time on their schedule.The book takes you on a journey, around the world in 80 days, with the characters. I think that this book provides a great reading environment, as well as an overall experience. Many people have had the same as I have, therefore making this book a classic.
    • 4/5
      What a fantastic, thrilling, gripping story this is. What a nail-biter! Filled with fun characters, vivid locations, and a sense of desperate urgency, Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne is deservedly a classic. I listened to this on audiobook read by Jim Dale and enjoyed every minute (except the truly nauseating little talk, added by the publisher, at the end. But I will rant about that later). I was surprised to realize that I had probably never read the unabridged version of this story. I have a vague recollection of one of those Great Illustrated Classics, with a truly terrifying illustration of Passepartout in the opium den. Though I'm familiar with many of Verne's plots, I haven't really sat down with one of his books as an adult reader. I see I will have to rectify that. Phileas Fogg is an eccentric English gentleman who has followed an unvarying pattern — to the minute — for most of his life. He is meticulous down to the temperature of his shaving water, and when his manservant brings him water that is two degrees too cold, Mr. Fogg has no alternative but to fire him. We arrive at the house in Savile Row the day the new servant, Passepartout, is to begin work. Passepartout is delighted at the prospect of a well-ordered, established life, but it is not to be. That very night, Fogg makes a twenty-thousand-pound bet at his club that he can travel around the world in eighty days. To the astonishment of his colleagues, who are well accustomed to his precise and unvarying life, Fogg sets out that very evening on his madcap voyage.There is an interesting correlation between this story and that of Les Misérables; though completely opposite in tone and plot, both feature a legalistic, misled police inspector trailing the hero on all his journeys. Both inspectors step in to wreak ruin upon their quarry at the worst possible moment, and both, in the end, are foiled. That is probably as far as the comparison goes, but isn't it interesting? Les Misérables was published in 1862, and Around the World in Eighty Days in serial form in 1873. I love Verne's descriptions; they are often so wryly humorous. Anyone who thinks classics are boring and slow really ought to read this book. He says that Fogg is "like an incarnation of the god of punctuality," and continually calls Passepartout a "dear fellow." Inspector Fix is also a very humorous and yet well-rounded character. Of Mrs. Aouda, alas, we do not see much.I can't praise Jim Dale's reading enough; it was wonderful. His voices for the characters were superb. The only weakness was his voice for Mrs. Aouda, but it seems a common failing among male actors; they never can get the women's voices so well as the female actors can get the men's. But apart from that small quibble, I loved Dale's interpretation, especially of the beloved Passepartout! I will always hear his slightly breathless, emphatic, strongly accented voice in my head when I think of the character. (I should mention that another thing I love about audiobooks is that I learn how to pronounce all the words and names... Passepartout is pronounced "Paspertoo;" who knew?).And now for the banal little talk at the end, given by the son of the man who started the Listening Library company (now owned by Random House). First off, the poor man's voice is not a pleasure to listen to after Dale's warm, rolling tones. It's nasally, effeminate, and just plain annoying. Even had his script been wonderful, it would have been hard to appreciate, read by that unfortunate voice. And what he says is bad enough on its own account. Does Listening Library commend Verne for being interested in other countries and cultures, for opening new vistas to his readers, and demonstrating a vivid curiosity about the fascinating world around him? Do they praise his enthusiasm for the exotic and share his excitement for the geographical limitations that technology was removing? Oh no. Instead, the publishers chose to disparage his work as "unacceptable" by today's standards in its portrayal of "certain social structures" and "other cultures." Verne, they self-righteously sniff, displays a staggering "naivete" and "lack of appreciation and experience" for the various cultures that his characters encounter. Sure, Verne had an imperfect understanding of the many cultures in his book. Do we, in chronological snobbery, really think our appreciation of every culture and "social structure" so perfect? Actually I was rather disappointed that the publisher did not actually mention the specific issues with the story, preferring rather to take the safe route of vague, lofty accusation. It's a good thing readers are generally intelligent enough to pick out these things for ourselves — where, oh where would we be without Listening Library to mold our minds? And there are textual refutations to their sweeping claims, if they would but condescend to play fair and be specific about what's giving them indigestion.I find it absurd and unfair to judge a historical figure by modern standards. I think if any sermon must be made of the book's relative level of 21st-century political correctness or lack thereof (again, assuming we readers aren't astute enough to pick it out for ourselves), it ought to focus on the themes of the story rather than passing judgment on the author. The cover art for this audiobook is further proof of the publisher's cluelessness. It features a large hot-air balloon... which Phileas Fogg never takes. Verne mentions a balloon for about two seconds as a method of travel that would most certainly not work for Mr. Fogg — and then the cover sports one prominently. *sigh*But I don't want to leave you with all this negativity. The rating I am giving is strictly for the book. Random House/Listening Library's hamfisted approach is such a pity, because the actual production was excellent. I enjoyed the ethnic music that opened each new chapter, and of course Dale was great. And I suppose it's good the publishers didn't excise the parts they didn't like; this is unabridged, after all. But it's a 50th anniversary tribute to Listening Library's first audiobook production, which was this book. It might look bad if they interfered with the actual text itself.If you think you are intelligent enough to perceive ideas that are in alignment with their historical setting (and actually, perhaps, ahead of their time) — if you're sure you won't suddenly morph into a bigot under Verne's pernicious influence — you really ought to give this book a try. It's funny, well written, and adventurous, and you'll enjoy every minute of Phileas Fogg's eighty days around the world. I certainly did. Highly recommended!
    • 4/5
      Substance: A travelogue and catalogue of "modern" transportation inventions, yet the story is engaging as well, despite its absurd contrivances. Verne has a droll humour.Note: The annotations are occasionally helpful, but so is a good dictionary. For some reason, many very obvious archaisms and forgotten "current news items" are not explained.
    • 2/5
      Probably a good book for kids, but reading it for the first time as an adult it really doesn't do it. It is SO cartoonish and the characters so outlandish that I stopped after about 40 pages.
    • 5/5
      When you are faced with the challenge, that no other man has been able to accomplish, will you not do your best to? If most of your fortune was at stake will you not strive to win no matter what the cost? Or are the other things that are more important than the task at hand? The book "Around the world in 80 days" by Jules Verne, is a novel that teaches something valuable that everyone should know. One man by the name of Phileas Fogg, is a wealthy man who seems to contain no emotions, a person of precision and accuracy. Because of a single bet, he must travel around the world in 80 days time, placing most of his fortune to win. With him is his new servant Passepartout a frenchman. Passepartout thought his master was a man of no feeling, yet in the end, he has seen what a kind gentleman Mr. Fogg truly is. Throughout the journey Mr. Fogg had saved a lady named Aouda, even if it were to slow down his journey he had to make sure she would be safe in Hong Kong, where she will never be in danger again. Also Passepartout has needed help over and over, yet Mr. Fogg never fails to come to his aid. Through and through helping others, and making sure they were well, was always the most important thing in this book even if the bet was to be lost. Now what do you think? Don't you think that, caring for others is important? In everyday life sometimes we get so into the fact that we have to reach a certain place for example, that we bump into people and just keep on going, without knowing if that person was okay. This book is I think my favourite from the author Jules Verne. I recommend it to anyone, pick up this classic and just enjoy!
    • 4/5
      This is the ultimate travel tale. It's full of adventure and suspense spiced with humor and romance. It's lighthearted fun, yet it touches on social issues of its era such as the status and treatment of women in India and opium use in China.It's interesting that, while there are lots of characters in the book, there is only one female. Her character is less developed than the male characters, and she has a mostly passive role in the action. I don't read many adventure novels, and I haven't read any of Verne's other books, so perhaps this is typical of the genre.This story lends itself well to reading aloud or listening to on audio. I listened to an audio version on a road trip and it made the time pass quickly.
    • 4/5
      A wonderful adventure story. This story, much like many of Verne's others, captures the imagination and lets the reader simply enjoy a good story. Every story might have a little something to teach us, or a little bit of a moral, but the adventures of Phileas Fogg are, to me, nothing more than a darn good story. It reminds me of a time when I could read for pleasure without having to expect a conspiracy, or to discover some hidden truth. Verne tells a story that often includes all the latest in technological advances, as was his style, but he seems to have no other desire but to entertain. It is often hard to read a "classic" due to the tendancy for a "classic" to be rather dated. Thie piece by Verne, though perhaps dated just a bit, is a classic for the best reason: it entertains!
    • 2/5
      The book "Around the World in 80 Days" by Jules Verne is a decent book. It is very slow in the beginning and has annoying old words. As the story progesses it gets a little better, but still not very good. The book is about a guy (Phileas Fogg) who bets he can make it around the world in 80 days. The book is just a boring account of the stuff he does. This book is very slow and boring and is not recommended to read unless you need to.
    • 3/5
       What a delightful book. It bears the tone of an unflappable gentleman of the world, and the travel tour across the globe, particularly Asia, is highly memorable. There is time enough to do good deeds as well, as when a young woman is rescued from the fate of suttee in India.
    • 4/5
      Having first read Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, this one started out rather disappointing. Deciding to push through the rough beginning of the book, it proved to be gathering momentum. About halfway through, the book becomes less about character development and travel, and more about adventure. It was at this point which I started to enjoy the read, and found it very difficult to put down for the remainder. Though it started out slow, it had quite an unexpected and exciting finish, earning it my four stars. I would recommend this book.
    • 3/5

      6/10.

      A rich eccentric travels around the world in 80 days against all odds. Quite good and a classic.

    • 5/5
      I adore this book. It is so delightful. How is it I have never read this book until now? How is it that Jules Verne was, until now, only an author mentioned in Back to the Future that I'd never read?
    • 5/5
      (Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)A couple of years ago, when I did a write-up of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for the "CCLaP 100" essay series, I heard from a number of his fans that part of the reason I found it rather lackluster was because of the free but ancient translation I had read, and that Verne is one of those cases where it really pays to seek out and even purchase the most recent translations that you can find. And that's because it's only been in literally the last 20 or 30 years, since genre work has really started gaining academic respect, that we've even wanted to go back and explore the beginnings of things like science-fiction or crime novels, and to apply a scholarly eye to such original material; but for a century before that, the dozens of fantastical titles put out by someone like Verne were considered by most to be the literary version of throwaway kiddie shows, pumped out quickly and cheaply to soon part an adolescent from his allowance money at the corner drugstore on a Saturday afternoon, and usually translated on the fly by overworked copyeditors who could care less if they were successfully capturing the subtleties of the original text.So I was glad to recently come across Amazing Journeys: Five Visionary Classics by Jules Verne, a new collection of some of his most famous novels, edited and translated by the quite obvious slavish fan and full-time scholar Frederick Paul Walter, put out in a plain but professional oversized edition and containing all the books' original illustrations. And indeed, as I learned while reading through these 'Anglicized' new translations (i.e. they feature standard measurements and Fahrenheit temperatures), Verne's work at its best contained a kind of dry humor and political awareness that we in the English-speaking world rarely equate with the French speculative pioneer, with dialogue that's not nearly as histrionic as we've come to think of it in books like these, which to be fair really were pumped out originally on a fairly quick basis mostly for the amusement of children and the working class, a series of 54 novels known as the "Extraordinary Voyages" that publisher Jules Hetzel built an entire little commercial empire around, and just like today with most of the duo's revenue coming not from the books themselves but rather the lucrative traveling stage adaptations that were often made of them. And in fact, a full reading of Verne's entire oeuvre remains a personal challenge that I will only tackle much later in life if at all, so I decided not to read even the full five tales collected here, and especially like I said since I had already read 20,000 Leagues and didn't relish the thought of slogging through the entire thing again.So instead I read just two of the titles in this collection, starting with 1864's Journey to the Center of the Earth, one of Verne's first speculative tales after first being an opera librettist for years, while lying to his father the whole time and claiming that he was establishing a fine career in Paris as a young urban lawyer. And indeed, this early thriller shows off what I consider one of the modern main weaknesses of Verne's work, no matter how good the translation; that many of the fanciful scientific theories he proposed in his books have turned out over the decades to be just flat-out wrong, which means that we no longer have the ability to enjoy his work in the same way his contemporary audience did. (Don't forget, readers in the 1800s thought of Verne not so much as a sci-fi author but more like Michael Crichton, a brilliant futurist writing day-after-tomorrow tales about what life would really be like for their children.) Essentially the tale of an eccentric German professor, his nephew assistant and their silent Icelandic guide, as they literally climb down a volcano and discover a vast continent-sized system of caves below the Earth's surface, complete with their own bodies of water and rainclouds, it's hard not to roll one's eyes when watching our heroes stumble across forgotten dinosaurs and house-sized mushrooms, or ride a lava eruption back out to the surface at the end as if they were Victorian surfers; although the story definitely has its charms as well, especially when thinking of it now as pure fairytale fantasy, and with there being lots to enjoy in the cartoonish stereotypes that come with each of our various characters.Ah, but then after that, I skipped straight to the last story in this collection, and undoubtedly the most famous of Verne's career as well, 1873's Around the World in Eighty Days, which has been made into high-profile films several times now over the years, and which turned out to be a much better reading experience. Basically a gentle satire of British stiff-upper-lip determinism in the height of their Empire years, it starts with a group of upper-class gentlemen at a private London club discussing the latest innovations in world travel, with the reclusive and unflappable Phileas Fogg quietly insisting to his peers that a globe-spanning trip could now be realistically accomplished in a flat 80 days, even wagering what today would be two million dollars on the deal and agreeing to leave on such a journey that very night, armed with nothing but an overnight bag and his loyal French butler. And thus starts a rollicking adventure that indeed takes us around the world, spiced up by a British P.I. in Raj India who mistakes Fogg for a fugitive bank robber and tries to trip up his plans the whole rest of the way, and with the incredible journey involving such details as an elephant ride across central Asia, a sudden alliance with Chinese acrobats, a deliberately planned mutiny on a British sea vessel, a shootout with Native Americans on a train ride across the American Midwest, and a whole lot more. (Although let it be noted that the original book features no hot-air balloons, an invention of Hollywood that has become a famous trope of its own by now.)And in fact, I'm sure that a big reason why this succeeds so much more than Journey to the Center of the Earth is that, unlike the outdated speculative nature of the former, Eighty Days is a faithful and now historical look at just what it was like to really pull off world travel in the late 1800s, the first time in history it became commercially viable for anyone besides pirates and explorers to even do so. (And indeed, just a year before Verne wrote his novel, Thomas Cook led history's very first trip around the world designed specifically for tourists, only in their case taking seven months to complete instead of Verne's three.) And that makes the book charming and fascinating instead of eye-rolling, and especially when adding Verne's astutely funny comments regarding imperial aspirations, and of the self-satisfyingly civilized way the British liked to think of themselves during the height of the Victorian Age. (Unlike his reputation in later movies, much of the humor in the original book comes from the conservative, adventure-hating Fogg maintaining such complete composure in the face of such globetrotting chaos, spending the majority of his 80-day trip not enjoying the scenery but playing an endless series of card games with his fellow steamship and railroad passengers.) And that's a delight to read about even today, no matter how dated the actual mechanics of the story itself. (And in fact, gonzo journalists have been recreating the trip in a period-faithful way almost since the publication of the book itself, from an 1889 newspaper reporter to most recently comedian Michael Palin, just a few years ago for a BBC television mini-series.)So it was nice, I admit, to see what all these Verne fans were talking about, as far as the surprising loveliness of his original texts, that for so long have been hidden from us English speakers by shoddy translations; but also like I said, I'm not sure just how much of a general interest I have in Verne even with the new translations, making a sampler like this nearly perfect for the casual fan. It comes highly recommended, but be prepared for it to be one of those volumes you read in little doses here and there for years to come.Out of 10: 9.1
    • 4/5
      Great fun to read, although the cover is incorrect (showing camels). Interesting to note because the Barnes and Noble book jackets talks about the "wrongness" of the balloon in the Fifties film version. Fast paced, full of action, and why did I not read it years ago!
    • 5/5
      Fantastic, so much fun. Can't believe it took this long for me to read this!
    • 5/5
      A version of Around the World in 80 Days done as a French language textbook reader with English introduction and notes. Useful for someone like me who loves the story and has only moderate skill in French
    • 5/5
      I read this book for the first as a read-aloud to my son when he was about 12. We were rivetted, on the edge of our seats. Excitement and humour, a must read.
    • 5/5
      Phileas Fogg is that among that special breed of eccentric British men that were such a fixture of Victorian England. At his club he is challenged to race around the world in 80 days -- in an era where transportation was a scosh...unreliable. Accompanied by his incredibly resourceful servant Passepartout he accepts the challenge. The book chronicles his adventures. It's a remarkable journey full of action, suspense, and absurd comedy. And of course, that comical Vistorian xenophobia -- though doubtless it is more humorous for the reader than it was in international business relationships. Focused on his goal, and only his goal, Fogg does his level best to bring England with him, and not experience even a trace of other cultures. That alone is worth the price of admission.
    • 4/5
      Wonderful narrator and includes some music from the movie. There is 7 hours and 53 minutes of listening. Phileas Fogg is the main character who wages a bet with his friends from his club that he could go around the world in 80 days. The bet was a considerable fortune and considering the time period of the 1870's, it would be an almost impossible feat. Mr. Fogg, with his attention to precise detail had quiet confidence that he would be able to be back at his club at 8:45 pm in exactly 80 days. Along the way, a Scotland Yard policeman Mr. Fix, decides Mr. Fogg is in reality a thief and decides it is his duty to follow Mr. Fog and arrest him if he can. Is Phileas Fogg a thief? His character shows great courage and so the reader is left to find out if wealthy Mr. Fogg is a thief and if he will win his bet.Much better than the movie!!!!!!!