Sunday, January 29, 2012

Armchair travel: Around the World in 80 Days


Around the World in 80 Days, by French author Jules Verne, is a quick, enjoyable, and lighthearted read that recounts the tale of Phileas Fogg's circumnavigating the globe in eighty days as a result of a wager.  While the storyline was predictable, it is nonetheless a fun book to read.  Perhaps more interesting is to mention the time in history in which the book was written.  The novel was published in 1872, soon after three major technological breakthroughs came to fruition which would ultimately enable one to travel across the globe - the completion of the First Continental Railroad in the U.S., the linking of a railway system across India, and the opening of the Suez Canal.  This made for a good adventure tale, but I did not find the writing particularly sophisticated or memorable. 

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