Around The World In 80 Days
-Jules Verne
Jules Verne is an exceptional writer in the 19th century, he suffered from a lot of troubles during his life of writing books. By 1870, he had already wrote several books, but none of them were a hit. Shortly after that, Jules' father passed away, and his own son, Michael, started to exhibit psychological troubles that landed him up in a mental institution (Or a mental hospital as we call it today). Jules would have given up at this stage, but persevered under the encouragement of the publisher.
However, things did not turn good for him. Germany had invaded France at that time (Jules was a Frenchmen), and it was as though the world collapsed for him. He was sent to defend the Bay Of Somme with twelve other people. He survived the war, but amidst all the fighting, he lost both his family and friends. It was incredible that Jules still managed to complete Around The World In 80 Days. Transportation was modernized, and Jules took advantage of that to list out all the possible forms of transport in the book. It is still widely read today, as it was considered a 'science fiction' book at that time. I believe that this book will continue sailing down the 22th century!
In this book, this peculiar man, Phileas Fogg, makes an seemingly impossible bet with his friends in the Reform Club that he can travel across the world in 80 days. However, with the possibility of delays and obstacles, it could be too much a daunting task for him. Being a quiet and solemn man, many people did not believe that Phileas Fogg can achieve his goal and not lose the 20 thousand pounds that he betted on.
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With his newly hired servant, Jean Passepartout (A ridiculous name...), they set off towards Paris. A while later, Passepartout realises that he had forgotten to turn off the gas tap, which will burn even though there is no fire. However, things got worse when Phileas Fogg is identified as the robber of twenty thousand pounds in a bank (Which he actually didn't steal). Simultaneously, Dectective Fix is sent to arrest Phileas Fogg.
This was their travel plan:
Travelled by rail to Paris
Took the steamer Mongolia from Suez to Aden in India via Bombay,
Took the Great Indian Penisular Railway; passed Salcette, Tannah, Western Ghauts, Burhampoor, Bundelcund, Allahabad, meeting the Ganges at Benares, Burdivan, passing the French town of Chandernagor and finally reaching Calcutta.
I don't want to spoil the book review, so that you all can enjoy the book YOURSELVES.
I'm happy to say that in the end, Phileas Fogg succeeded extraordinarily, with Detective Fix finding the real crime suspect, while Phileas Fogg and Passepartout actually lost the race by thinkin that they had arrived in London five minutes after nine, however, they made a simple mistake which I initially did not thought of.
Phileas Fogg had,without suspecting it, gained a one-day advantage on his journey, by merely travelling EASTWARD; he would, on the contary, have lost a day had he gone in the opposite direction (WESTWARD). Here's something very hard to explain, I hope you all get it. In journeying eastward he had gone TOWARDS the sun, and the days therefore diminished for him as many times four minutes as he crossed degrees in this direction. There are three hundred and sixty degrees, multiplied by four minutes, gives precisely twenty-four hours-that is, the day unconsciously gained. I other words, while Phileas Fogg, going eastward, saw the sun pass the meridian EIGHTY times, while his friends at Reform Club only saw it pass the meridian SEVENTY-NINE times.
Clever trick, and so Phileas Fogg won the bet of twenty thousand pounds, but he had nearly spent nineteen thousand pounds on the way, so the gain was very little. Truly, would you not for less than that make the tour around the world?
:)
