Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne

A mysterious slip of parchment containing coded Norse runes falls from an ancient book and lands at the feet of the only person in the world with both the intelligence to decipher it and the insanity to act upon its message:

Descend into the crater of Snaefellsjökull, over which the shadow of Scartaris falls before the kalends of July, bold traveller, and you will reach the centre of the Earth. This I have done. Arne Saknussemm

These words, written in the 16th century by an Icelandic alchemist, are all the prompting Professor Otto Lidenbrock, an expert in mineralogy, needs to drag his more than reluctant nephew Axel on 'the strangest expedition of the nineteenth century'.  Yes, the Professor fully intends to go down a crater of a volcano in Iceland and follow Saknussemm to the centre of the Earth.

Many of us read this tale by Jules Verne when we were children.  For me, it was the very first fiction book that I read that I actually liked, and I liked it a lot.  Although the reader is supposed to identify with the pragmatic Axel, I was much more drawn to Uncle Lidenbrock. He had vision, he had learning, he used reason to solve problems, and he refused to let the doubts or prejudices of other to sway him from his course.  

The difference between us is that I prefer to have vision, learning, reason and resolve in the comfort of my own living-room.  But that is what books can give us: the means to adventure safely through dangerous places without ever leaving our armchairs.  And we can go to places that don't exist, never existed, or will never be attained by ordinary mortals.  Journey to the Centre of the Earth certainly fits the bill.

Set in 1863, the new-fangled technology of chronometers and Ruhmkorff coils mentioned in the books must have seemed a miracle to its readers.  Of course, the intervening 150 years have made the new-fangled old-fangled.  So the Professor had a watch and a flashlight, so what?  

There is something antiquated about Verne's story too.  A lot of narration and explanation intersperses the action, for example, making the story slow by modern standards. But to give the author his due, he gives riddles to solve, dangers to overcome, there is rising action and he does get the reader out into the countryside, out into the ocean, up into the mountains and down into the depths of the Earth.

In amongst all the words and explanations, there is this passage about fuel:

Thus were formed those huge beds of coal which, despite their size, the industrial nations will exhaust within three centuries unless they limit their consumption.

Here we are in the age of peak-oil, and there was Verne thinking about something like it all those years ago.

I enjoyed re-reading this book, although nothing will replace the pleasure I felt the first time around.  Well worth the effort both times.