Recently Read: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

[ellyssian]

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

The thing I found myself wondering most often while reading this was how much of the various scientific names and so forth thrown about was cutting edge for the time it was written, and how much - beyond the Nautilus itself - was fiction.

As one of the earliest science fiction novels, it doesn't skimp on the science: much of the text in quite a few chapters is spent describing the lifeforms seen swimming past the viewing window - or rooted firm to the corals and such.

Although those same descriptions will likely turn some off, those not interested in oceanography or, at least, the classification of marine biology, can still enjoy the adventure. For those with interests in anachrotech, this is an in-depth study of the imagination and the technology of an earlier period.