Review of 'From the Earth to the Moon'
From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne
Verne's classic novel sees the Baltimore Gun Club, a group of idle American Civil War artillery enthusiasts, devise a plan to build a giant cannon capable of shooting a projectile to the moon. The first problem is funding the project so their president Impey Barbicane heads up campaigns throughout the US and the rest of the world. Funding in place the plans call for a vertical shaft to be dug into the ground with a suitable site found outside of Tampa, Florida. Though originally unmanned French adventurer Michel Ardan has the suggestion that perhaps this could be changed though, for those inside, it would be a one-way ticket…
I found this book to be quite tedious mostly with the characters who I in no way engaged in. This is a book about the goal and lacks any sort of humanity with the central characters bickering about this and that in a way that gets tedious. The characters are in no way appealing, merely a means to an end: Getting to the moon. The details are interesting to read but, of course, woefully naïve but in a charming, historical way particularly when they start talking about how to make the projectile suitable for humans. It is most definitely a novel of the time with the obvious male-centricity of the story and the ignorance of any context outside of the main goal.
Overly long, quite boring, best to skim (if at all) to the more interesting bits towards the end. Note that the book does leave on a bit of a cliff-hanger as the cannon fires…(see the somewhat lack-lustre follow-up Around the Moon).
Rating: “Not great, but not the worse”
Review Date: 2025-07-26
Genre: Fantasy
Publication Date: 1865