This short biography is a wonderful introduction to the life and writings of Jules Verne. Peggy Teeters has interwoven a believable historical narrative around the literary genius of Jules Verne. Throughout this tale, she pays close attention to the events surrounding the Second and Third French Republic. During the Second Republic (1848), Jules Verne was a naive law student trying to surreptitiously work his way into Parisian literary society. While he was living in Paris, he happened to gain the friendship and tutelage of one of his early literary heroes, Alexander Dumas. Through his failed attempts to write a fashionable story in the vein of Dumas, he created his own literary genre: the science fiction novel. Around the time of the Third Republic (1870), Verne was stationed off the coast with a naval fleet, writing his most famous novel, Around the World in Eighty Days.

One of the credits I give Teeters in this book, is delving into Verne's influences, and giving brief summaries of important moments from Verne books. Some of Verne's books are notoriously long, tedious, and repetitive. She notices how Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas were early influences. She also goes into the various influences that Poe's early writing had on his works (while leaving out the possible influence of the later Poe). The existence of at least two landmarks in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea show Poe's influence: the trans-Atlantic cable Poe had predicted before his death in "Mellonta Tauta", and the ejection of the Nautilus passengers from the maelstrom off the cliffs of Lofoden, recounted in Poe's "A Descent into the Maelstrom". Teeters makes special mention of the influence of Poe's stories on the young Verne.

Verne was also become a balloon flight enthusiast after reading Poe's balloon stories. Knowing the famous aviationist, Nadar, also fanned the flame of his interest. In his excitement for a future of balloon travel, he had developed an energy efficient design for a balloon that regulated a constant amount of gas between the envelopes of two balloons, one placed inside the other. As far as I can tell, this is still a relevant idea for our future of energy efficient transportation. The myth about balloon travel in Around the World in Eighty Days, promoted by the 1956 movie, is also dispersed, when we understand where Verne's enthusiasm for balloons originated. He had used balloon travel as the theme for his debut novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon, and later in The Mysterious Island. Only in the Hollywood version of Around the World in 80 Days does a balloon appear as a form of travel for Phileas Fogg. After the screening of the popular 1956 movie, the image of Fogg in a balloon began appearing on newly published covers of Verne's book.

Teeters delves into the possible impact Verne's family relationships had on his writing. His father, who wanted him to follow the family tradition of becoming a lawyer, eventually conceded to his son's literary ambitions. His mother and brother, however, always had faith in him. One fact that I did not know before reading this book, is that Verne's publisher, Hetzel, was mainly a publisher of children's literature. He had commissioned Verne to write his series, "Extraordinary Voyages", for an audience of young readers. Unlike some other authors whose works are marketed to young audiences long after their literary era, even though their works were originally intended for adults (Poe and Dickens), Verne's works were originally intended for young audiences. As Verne's fame grew as a science fiction author, his books were also largely anticipated by adult audiences.

Verne was one of the first authors to anticipate the genre of "hard" science fiction. Journey to the Center of the Earth reportedly predicted the discovery of fossils in caves by a number of years. From the Earth to the Moon, besides sparking the ambitions of many of the scientists who contributed to NASA's space program, also predicted the original design and location of the first American rocket launch. Verne's imaginative work will go down in history as a testament to human ability to see into the far future. In this misty future, optimism for scientific technology is paradoxically pessimism, as the tables are turned on the barbaric conquests of civilization. ( )