![]() ![]() Read the book and you, too, will be fooled into accepting the realistic possibility in Verne’s time of that dream of flying to the Moon. By skilful misdirection he drew the attention of readers away from weaknesses in the project. He had used the science of the day to construct a literary conjuring trick, a hoax, one of the most successful in all history. Curiously, however, Verne is unlikely to have thought it possible that a manned projectile could actually be fired out of a giant cannon, rising higher than the Moon, swinging around it, and then landing safely back on Earth. Directly inspired by Verne’s story, enthusiasts worked successfully at overcoming the practical difficulties, and within a century, human beings did indeed fly to the Moon. In From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon, Jules Verne turned the ancient fantasy of space flight into a believable technological possibility – an engineering dream for the industrial age. The popularity of his novels led directly to modern science fiction. Jules Verne (1828-1905) was internationally famous as the author of novels based on ‘extraordinary voyages.’ His visionary use of new travel technologies inspired his readers to look to the industrial future rather than the remote past for their dreams of adventure. He was one of the first authors to write science fiction. Readers of Jules Vernes early science-fiction classic From the Earth to the Moon (De la terre à la lune) which left the Baltimore Gun Clubs bullet-shaped projectile, along with its three passengers and dog, hurtling through space had to wait a whole five years before learning the fate of its heroes. ![]() Jules Verne (Febru March 24, 1905) was a French writer. With an Introduction and Notes by Alex Dolby. An illustration from Jules Vernes novel 'The Carpathian Castle'. ![]()
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