Amazing Journeys: Five Visionary Classics (Excelsior Editions) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

I first encountered Jules Verne about 50 years ago, by way of Classics Illustrated comics. In high school I discovered the Jules Verne "translation" problem: the fact that most of the editions of Verne in English use slapdash translations that truncate, rewrite, or otherwise maul Verne's text. F.P. Walter has been one of many translators working to correct this problem in recent years. His translation of Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas, for example, is included in the "Classics" app that sometimes features in ads for the iPhone.

In Amazing Journeys, he's produced a magnum opus that is an incredibly generous gift to all Verne fans. Beautifully translated, beautifully printed, concisely introduced, including many of the original illustrations from the French editions, this should form the core of anyone's Jules-Verne-in-English library. It includes the four novels usually considered Verne's best: Journey to the Center of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon, Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas, and Around the World in 80 Days. It also includes Circling the Moon, a sequel to the first moon novel, that is often omitted from Verne collections, but that to me is essential to completing the story. He's gone the extra mile (so to speak) and completely reworked his translation of Twenty Thousand Leagues, making it smoother and richer: even if you already own a copy of his original version, or the collaborative revision he did with Walter James Miller, you owe it to yourself to get this one.

You would never know it from the "standard" English versions, endlessly reprinted (and unfortunately also endlessly recorded in audiobook form), but Verne is a breezy writer, crisply detailed, full of humor and not-so-gentle satire, not above the occasional pun. Get this book and experience aspects of Verne you never suspected were there. To have any one of these books in this form would be a treat. For an old Verne hound like me, to have all five of them in one reasonably-priced volume is bliss.

When I purchased my Kindle this was one of the first books I purchased to read on it. Frederick Paul Walter did a fine job of translating the Naval Institute Press version of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". I was looking forward to what he could do with the other Verne classics.

I was not disappointed. These are great stories. No one can read these books without realizing what a great writer Verne was. If this collection doesn't end the quaint notion that Verne was a hack with a few good gimmicks, nothing ever will.

But the Kindle version was less than a five star effort. The "translation" to ebook format seems to have been done by machine. This left a few problems.

1. There are *numerous* instances of two words being combined, ie "twowords" instead of "two words". This frequently happened when one word was italicized.

2. In "Around the World in Eighty Days" beginning and ending double quotes (") frequently ended up on previous and following lines.

3. There is a Table of Contents with working links but it can't be reached via the "Go To_" menu. Only this table of contents is linked; the ones for each story are not so one can only navigate to the beginning of each book.

3. Word wrapping is inconsistent. The main text works fine but the chapter headings are quirky. This is especially noticeable in "Around the World in Eighty Days".

4. Some text is graphic, not text. There is a (Ö) which is rendered graphically and hence doesn't size with the text.

5. Introductions and End Notes that refer to the page numbers of the print edition. Not especially helpful here. Links would have been nice.

6. A linked list of illustrations would have been nice also. (There are a couple of dozen illustrations from old editions.)

Good points include fully linked footnotes throughout the texts of all novels. Well done here.

Still, the above problems are in no way deal breakers but for the asking price one expects better.

The Kindle version is by no means bad, indeed I recommend it to all Kindle owners. The reading process was a pleasure overall. It's early days yet and publishers are going to have their issues adapting their inventory to the Kindle format.

The translation is accurate, easy to read, and retains the beauty of Jules Verne's writing.

The book is the size of a textbook. This could be good or bad depending on how you see it. This makes a great coffee table book and reads well at the breakfast table or in my reading chair. It is tough to read when going to bed though.

Wish they had an electronic version of this book / translation as well.