The Sunday Penguin: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

[@drowningin]

I wonder what this was like to read the year of release. No television, no radio. No clue what was out there. It is a great book today, but back then it must have been so exciting in a way that is hard to imagine today

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

It must have been.

[@killmebut509]

the main reason this Book was on my list, old adventure novels are becoming my favorite!

[@outofthisworldreader1700]

A classic! I remember in my youngin’ days getting lost in all of Jules Verne’s works!! But, I think this one was probably my favorite!!

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Yeah, this one is special!

[@LeoniFermer-vi4dc]

The James Mason film made me want to read as much Jules Verne as I could get. This is the most exciting Sci fi ever. I loved the geeky stuff.

[@mediumjohnsilver]

To date, the only Jules Verne novel I have read is Around the World in Eighty Days, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks for the recommendation for the best translation of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

You will really like this one!

[@revenantreads]

Such a great book. In the days when public aquariums were first starting those wildlife minutiae must have been fascinating.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

It must have been!

[@AnneEWilliamson]

This is one of my favorite classics! I read it back in high school and have read it multiple times since. Captain Nemo is one of the best anti-heroes in all of fiction, in my opinion. I'm glad you touched on translations too. I didn't know it was an issue for Verne, but I know so many times certain translations are so bad (like Dante's Divine Comedy has some really bad translations). I own a few copies of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and I've noticed each translation is a bit different (and I have relatively recent translations).

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

I’m so glad this book is one of your favorites! I knew you had great taste in literature!

[@ThisJustInBookTube]

Milo is interested in reading adventure novels and I pulled this video up to make sure I would be picking up a good translation. Thank you, Mike!

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

You are very welcome!

[@DebMcDonald]

Thanks for the heads up regarding translations. I read most classics on my kindle. Beautiful tie! Deb

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Thanks! A thrift store tie!

[@tomlabooks3263]

I just purchased the same edition only 2 weeks ago. Coralie Bickford-Smith is the cover designer for these Penguin clothbound series, and her covers are just gorgeous.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

I agree, I have several of these and they are beautiful.

[@jeremyfee]

Great discussion, as usual! I remember watching the Back to the Future movies and hearing Doc Brown talk about Jules Verne; that inspired me to read the book.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

I remember that from B2TF3!

[@2024FingersCrossed]

Loved Jules Verne as a kid, will have to re-read.

[@austinmorris981]

And the Walt Disney movie version of "20,000 Leages..." , which I think is from 1960 or '61, is my favorite movie of all time!

[@zimmer50]

This book is one of my all time favorite. Right up there with Treasure Island, Kidnapped and another Verne adventure The Mysterious Island. Thanks for your videos, they are so much fun to watch. What do you think of the 1954 Disney movie with Kirk Douglas and James Mason?

[@GinaStanyerBooks]

I can’t believe I’ve never read that! What a pretty edition.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

You would like it!

[@AJDunnnn]

Beautiful illustrations. I would read this.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

You should!

[@lifeofbekahh]

I just finished watching the movie, it was good 😊

[@leafyconcern]

New subscriber! Love series where people go over their penguins. I plan on doing something like that soon, after I do a couple more standalone book reports to regain my own respect. I've never understood Verne, so thanks for this little bit of introduction to him.

[@mtngrl5859]

Love Jules Verne! Beautiful book that you have, great introduction!.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Thanks!

[@attention5638]

I got into Verne just over a year ago, after reading a bunch of Wells. But I got all the novels that I read, brand new, for about three dollars a piece. Now, I am curious if they were decent translations or not, haha. I had no idea that was the case with his work.

[@MsReadsAlot]

Such a beautiful version! It is one of my favorite books as well. Envious of your copy. 😀

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

It is a nice one! Thanks for watching!

[@mirceaionescu960]

This is one of my favorite books of all time and by far my favorite classic. Every once in a while I'll look through KZbin to watch reviews of my favorite books and always find that too often with this and many classics they basically just make a plot synopsis without any input or actual review. This was an excellently done review, and it's obvious that you not only have read this multiple times, but really enjoyed it. I definitely agree with your points on captain Nemo and personally consider him to be the main character of the book, which makes it all the more interesting that it is written from the first person view of someone who I consider to be almost his foil. As if the book starts at the end of captain Nemo's story and we get to witness his descent into villainy. Well those are just my thoughts at least. Fantastic review nonetheless!

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Thank you! Yes, I really love this book. Absolutely one of my all time favorites. Thanks so much for watching!

[@sgriffin9960]

It’s been a long time, I need to reread this!

[@AhmedMahmoud-tv9vw]

I found this book when I was working a shift cleaning a storeroom. I guess it was destiny.

[@johnlamb6095]

Based on the adventures of the CSS Alabama, the novel's sequel 'The Mysterious Island' is set in Birkenhead England 'in metaphor'. Lairds shipyard of Birkenhead built the CSS Alabama and also the hull of the Nautilus (i.e virtually the whole craft) in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Look it up.

[@DDB168]

Thanks for highlighting that edition. I must get it and have a re-read. I approach his books as if they're a scifi / non-fiction hybrid with his technical infodumps. He sure was influential, not many authors can lay claim to having USN submarines named after their 'characters'. Btw you can go back in time and visit the Nautilus, it's in Groton ! 😉😉

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

I’ll have to take a trip to Groton!

[@jensraab2902]

I did a presentation on Jules Verne in French class many many years ago when I was in school. Verne was impressive. What I learned during my preparation for this presentation was that he was using what were cutting edge developments in science at the time, more than making up those concepts himself. If I remember correctly, there were prototypes of submarines when Verne wrote the 20,000 Leagues but this wasn't well known at the time - or maybe these were only conceptual or in early development, I don't remember now. I don't think that takes anything away from his fiction, even though it may move his works at the very edge of realistic fiction and SF. On the contrary, his research was great! Of course, he let his fantasy run wild in the blank spaces of knowledge that existed at the time (such as what you'd find at the bottom of the sea, or inside the Earth). One tiny correction: I noticed that, in the first Verne video and this one, you talk about his series as Extraordinary Adventures. But the series of books that he published with Hetzel ran under the label _Voyages extraordinaires._ Unfortunately, the situation for German translations is not the best either. There are plenty of editions of like half a dozen of his books but there aren't many that cover the majority or even all of his work, and just as in English you'll also have to pay super attention to get unabridged translations... It really baffles my mind that outside of editions for young children you'd cut out chunks or rewrite parts of the story of books. Who does that???

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Thanks for taking the time to write this great comment. I appreciate it.

[@terrysullins9218]

I have three of Jules Vernes books but not the Penguin CLASSICS EDITION. i'LL HAVE TO GET THAT ONE

[@christophernuzzi2780]

The easy way to tell if a translation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is abridged or not is to turn to the first page. If there is no paragraph mentioning the opinions of French scientists on the "monster" (Cuvier, Lacepede, Dumeril, and Quatrefages), then it has been abridged.

[@ALLNevada]

Just finished this book, same edition btw. This certainly is a great book but i had the feeling as you described. I surely felt that those long catalogues of sealife took me out of the immersion to the story, as they went on for pages sometimes. Story itself was very intresting

[@BookZealots]

That's interesting information on the translations of Verne's work. My son has read 20k Leagues and loved it. He has about 7 (?) of his stories. I'm not sure he'd even be interested in all of Verne's books, but it seems odd that they haven't been translated and made available to English readers ??? or perhaps we just all need to learn French and translate them ourselves? mwahahaha

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

There were English translations of a lot of his books that are just no longer in print. A shame, really.

[@thelifeandtimesofjames4273]

It’s a great story. And amazing imagination for his time. Got really miffed when they shot a certain sea creature for its skin. But still a great read.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Yeah, I felt the same way! Thanks so much for watching!

[@nefraial]

I'm lucky enough to have in my collection a 1967 hardcover first edition of "The Danube Pilot" by Jules Verne, complete with dust jacket. It lists it as the first English translation of his story ""Le Pilot du Danube" first published in 1908. I can't say if the translation is a good one, haha, considering I've nothing to compare it to and can't read it in French. I saved it when a school was doing a clean out (years ago) and it apparently was last read in 1976 so nearly went in the bin. Despite being a nice treasure and an interesting adventure story anyway, the dust jacket lists on the back 61 translated Jules Verne titles to collect from the publisher (which of course is long non-existent), which includes the obvious well known titles but still amazes me they translated and printed so many at the time. Before this I had no idea he wrote so many books and that such a large number of them would be considered good enough to share via translation.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Yeah, he wrote a lot of books. It’s a shame only a few are in print here now. The Danube Pilot sounds like a treasure!

[@nefraial]

Sadly he's not the only previously printed author subjected to a virtual book burning. While I'm as ready to admit as much as the next person that a lot of trash was written in the past too, there's a great number of good books that are not reprinted or even completely extinct on the internet which are in truth very good to read.

[@jordanthomas4379]

For people who love this book I always recommend a graphic novel series called “Castle in the Stars” by Alex Alice, clearly very inspired by the work of Jules Verne.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Thanks for the recommendation!

[@temsujamir3256]

Does this clothbound version has notes like the ordinary black penguins? Great review by the way. Cheers

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Yes, it has all the notes. Thanks for watching!

[@jamesfetcho6315]

Man... That version looks soooo cool. Yes it's a great freaking story. Dang translators🤣. It still works...I agree. 👍 I always thought of Him as Scifi/adventure. Very Cool video. Tomorrow...👍Mythos Monday 👍😁👍😁👍

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

The Shadow Out of Time!

[@terrysullins9218]

SORRY, i HIT THE CAPS KEY BY MISTAKE,(SLAPS THE TYPING FAIRY)

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

THAT’S OKAY

[@jayramsey7424]

I’ve read all his popular works but trying to find the lesser known ones. Any ideas?

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

Not many titles are in print. You can find almost everything he wrote cheap in ebook form though. I have dozens of his books on Kindle.

[@jayramsey7424]

@@michaelk.vaughan8617 I wish there was an official store like with Tolkien

[@leonoldfield9765]

👍

[@Vivicloud01]

Have they released anymore that bound like this from Jules Verne?

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

I don’t think Penguin has.

[@Vivicloud01]

@@michaelk.vaughan8617 Which books would recommend starting off with for jules verne besides this one?

[@MustachioMo]

Around the World in Eighty Days has a clothbound edition from Penguin!

[@Susemimj]

I just finished the book. I actually liked the technical side of this book, but I think I’m the only one who disliked Captain Nemo. He was much to hot and cold for me.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

You have good sense. Captain Nemo was pretty unpredictable and dangerous. Great character though!

[@vaibhavrajbhushan2924]

Jonny sins of literature, he can unzip all books take them out of there dust covers and see it all naked ... ❤ Next time flip pages with your fingers to show us your skills 🎉