Five Weeks in a Balloon
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Narrated by:
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Graham Scott
About this listen
Five Weeks in a Balloon
By Jules Verne
Translated by Frederick Paul Walter
Edited by Arthur Evans
Narrated by Graham Scott
One of the great "first novels" in world literature is now available in a complete, accurate English translation. Prepared by two of America's leading Verne scholars, Frederick Paul Walter and Arthur B. Evans, this edition honors not only Verne's farseeing science but also his zest, style, and storytelling brilliance.
Initially published in 1863, Five Weeks in a Balloon was the first novel in what would become the author's Extraordinary Voyages series. It tells the tale of a 4,000-mile balloon trip over the mysterious continent of Africa, a trip that wouldn't actually take place until well into the next century. Fusing adventure, comedy, and science fiction, Five Weeks has all the key ingredients of classic Verne: sly humor and cheeky characters, an innovative scientific invention, a tangled plot that's full of suspense and surprise, and visions of an unknown realm.
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The Smoky God is a classic tale from the genre of hollow Earth or subterranean literature. A once-favorite tale of Amazing Stories publisher Ray Palmer, The Smoky God is the (purportedly true) tale of two Norwegian fishermen Jens and Olaf Jansen, who sailed their fishing vessel into the inner Earth in the year 1829. While in the center of the Earth, they find an entire society and meet a race and of advanced giants.
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great story
- By Rodney C Kilgore on 07-25-21
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Edgar Allan Poe - The Complete Short Stories
- By: Edgar Allan Poe
- Narrated by: Bob Thomley
- Length: 16 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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All of Edgar Allan Poe’s great short stories in one 16-hour collection.
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NEVERMORE
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 11-23-15
By: Edgar Allan Poe
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The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym
- By: Edgar Allan Poe
- Narrated by: Jamie Hanes
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Edgar Allan Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym is a realistic yet romantic nautical adventure about a young stowaway on the high seas. One day in 1827, Arthur Gordon Pym escapes his dreary life in New Bedford and hides on the Grampus, where he befriends the captain's son, Augustus. The two boys witness and participate in a dazzling series of adventures, including shipwreck, famine, rescue, and voyages all over the world.
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Good but...
- By Marco Berry on 11-17-15
By: Edgar Allan Poe
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Madhouse at the End of the Earth
- The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night
- By: Julian Sancton
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In August 1897, the young Belgian commandant Adrien de Gerlache set sail for a three-year expedition aboard the good ship Belgica with dreams of glory. His destination was the uncharted end of the earth: the icy continent of Antarctica. But de Gerlache’s plans to be first to the magnetic South Pole would swiftly go awry. After a series of costly setbacks, the commandant faced two bad options: turn back in defeat and spare his men the devastating Antarctic winter, or recklessly chase fame by sailing deeper into the freezing waters.
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Excellent story
- By Ginger 3701 on 05-23-21
By: Julian Sancton
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The Toilers of the Sea
- By: Victor Hugo
- Narrated by: Patrick Dickson
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
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Victor Hugo wrote this wonderful story while living in exile on the island of Guernsey, which is where the adventure unfolds. Set in the early 1800s, The Toilers of the Sea tells off a young reclusive fisherman who falls dangerously in love with a beautiful island girl. Her uncle, himself an intrepid seafarer, is the owner of a paddle-steamer, which plies its trade to and from St. Malo on the coast of Brittany.
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Interesting, could without the special effects
- By Louise on 07-21-16
By: Victor Hugo
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Down the Great Unknown
- John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon
- By: Edward Dolnick
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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On May 24, 1869 a one-armed Civil War veteran, John Wesley Powell, and a ragtag band of nine mountain men embarked on the last great quest in the American West. The Grand Canyon, not explored before, was as mysterious as Atlantis - and as perilous. The 10 men set out from Green River Station, Wyoming Territory, down the Colorado in four wooden rowboats. Ninety-nine days later, six half-starved wretches came ashore near Callville, Arizona.
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Modern references take away
- By HC-2 NAS Norfolk '92 on 08-17-19
By: Edward Dolnick
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Marie
- By: H. Rider Haggard
- Narrated by: Shelly Frasier
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Allan Quatermain, hero of King Solomon's mines, tells a moving tale of his first wife, the Dutch-born Marie Marais, and the adventures that were linked to her beautiful, tragic history. This moving story depicts the tumultuous political era of the 1830s, involving the Boers, French colonists and the Zulu tribe in the Cape colony of South Africa. Hate and suspicion run high between the home government and the Dutch subjects.
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Confusing narration!
- By Browsing on 02-22-14
By: H. Rider Haggard
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The Deerslayer
- By: James Fenimore Cooper
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 20 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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The Deerslayer is the first of the Leatherstocking Tales of James Fenimore Cooper. Here we meet Natty Bumppo as a young man living in upstate New York in the early 1740s. The action begins as Bumppo, called "Deerslayer", and his friend Hurry Harry approach Lake Glimmerglass, or Oswego, where the trapper Thomas Hutter lives with his daughters, the beautiful Judith and the feeble-minded Hetty. Hutter's floating log fort is attacked by Iroquois Indians, and the two frontiersmen join in the fight.
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things were slower them
- By Bill on 05-08-05
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The Captain of the Pole Star
- By: Arthur Conan Doyle
- Narrated by: B. J. Harrison
- Length: 1 hr and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Word goes among the crew of the Pole Star that the captain is haunted by demons. And after the days turn into weeks in the frigid Arctic Ocean, stories begin to circulate of ghosts and midnight hauntings.
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Conan Doyle wrote more than Mr. Holmes.
- By Kristi R. on 11-14-11
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Sufferings in Africa
- By: James Riley
- Narrated by: Brian Emerson
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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In this classic tale of adventure, a young American sea captain named James Riley, shipwrecked off the western coast of North Africa in 1815, was captured by a band of nomadic Arabs and sold into slavery. Thus begins an epic adventure of survival and a quest for freedom that takes him across the Sahara desert.
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19th century shipwreck saga
- By Leslie Grey on 09-05-07
By: James Riley
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- By: Jules Verne, William Butcher
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Tedious
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From the Earth to the Moon
- By: Jules Verne
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The War of the Rebellion is over, and the members of the American Gun Club, bored with inactivity, look around for a new project. At last they have it: "We will build the greatest projectile the world has ever seen and make the moon our 38th state!" When From the Earth to the Moon was published in 1865, it was regarded as pure fantasy. Who could imagine a rocket that would carry men and animals through space?
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Mediocre story, terrible narration
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After an unremarkable interview, Circus agent George Smiley determines the subject of a standard security check—a civil servant in the Foreign Office named Samuel Fennan—poses no threat, nor presents any reason for suspicion of espionage. Hours later, Samuel Fennan is found dead by suicide. Suddenly finding himself under intense scrutiny, Smiley realizes the Circus intends to blame him for Fennan's death. Rather than remain idle, Smiley begins his own investigation into the nature of the man's demise.
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An Understated Adventure that keeps you wondering.
- By urbanmusicgal on 10-25-24
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From the Earth to the Moon and Round the Moon
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The American War is ended, and the intrepid artillerists of the Baltimore Gun Club have nothing left to do. So why not build a giant cannon and shoot three men to the moon?
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Around the World in 80 Days
- By: Jules Verne
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When an eccentric Englishman named Phileas Fogg makes a daring wager that he can circle the globe in just eighty days, it’s the beginning of a breathlessly-paced world tour. With his devoted servant Passepartout at his side, Fogg sets off on an adventurous journey filled with amazing encounters and wild mishaps. Pursued all the way by the bumbling Detective Fix, who believes the two travelers are bank robbers on the run, Fogg and Passepartout must use every means of transportation known to 19th-century man - including a hot-air balloon, a locomotive, and an elephant - to win the bet.
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A straightforward adventure/exploration story
- By Darwin8u on 02-03-13
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First Mate Shandon receives a mysterious letter asking him to construct a reinforced steamship in Liverpool. As he heads out for Melville Bay and the Arctic labyrinth, a crewman reveals himself to be John Hatteras, and his obsession, the North Pole. The captain is later abandoned by his crew and remains without resources at the coldest spot on earth. How can he find food and navigate the Polar Sea? And what will he find at the top of the world?
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Tedious
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An Understated Adventure that keeps you wondering.
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The American War is ended, and the intrepid artillerists of the Baltimore Gun Club have nothing left to do. So why not build a giant cannon and shoot three men to the moon?
By: Jules Verne
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What listeners say about Five Weeks in a Balloon
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Tad Davis
- 01-19-20
A grand adventure
Graham Scott Audio has released an audiobook of Jules Verne's first novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon. That by itself isn't unusual; what makes this special is that it uses the most recent and best translation of the novel, the one by Frederick Paul Walter, edited by Arthur B Evans, originally published in 2015 by Wesleyan University Press. It's almost impossible to find a Verne audiobook that uses a good translation, so on that score alone, the producer deserves kudos: all the more so because translator and editor are given credit on the cover.
The book is narrated by Graham Scott. (Going out on a limb, I'm guessing he's the head of Graham Scott Audio). He's an engaging and brisk narrator, moving quickly through the book’s 44 chapters. He has a particularly good time with the Scottish friend and outdoorsman Dick Kennedy. His energy doesn't flag even when working through the seemingly interminable list of earlier explorers of Africa. (This is Jules Verne, after all: lists of names have to come into it somewhere.)
The book centers on a small group of explorers led by Dr Samuel Fergusson. The plan is for the expedition to fly east to west across Africa, in the same direction as the equatorial trade winds; the balloon will rely on those winds to stay on course. Fergusson devises a way to heat and cool the hydrogen gas in the balloon without exposing it to an open flame. As it expands or contracts with the heat, the gas will move the balloon up or down — useful if a mountain peak is in the way, or if a different wind current needs to be found.
(Verne is sometimes described as a prophet, but his imagination wasn't infallible. When one character expresses anxiety about the hydrogen “powderkeg” above their heads, Fergusson assures him that any flame would burn slowly and would still allow them to descend safely. In other words, Verne didn't predict the Hindenburg. In his defense, though, the translator’s introduction points out that some investigators have concluded the explosive nature of that fire was due to something other than hydrogen.)
The explorers will cross the middle of Africa, from Zanzibar to St Louis, a city that straddles the mouth of the the Sénégal River on the western coast. It's supposed to take no more than a week. But because this is an adventure story, and the explorers consequently have adventures, the journey takes 5 weeks — hence the title. They are battered by storms, threatened by natives, attacked by vultures, even overtaken by locusts. Their balloon is damaged, the gas leaks, they begin to wonder if they'll make it to the west coast.
The characters are not psychologically deep, but they are sharply drawn and completely believable. The explorers include Fergusson; his friend Dick Kennedy, a blustery Scot and an expert hunter (he tries but fails to stop Fergusson's plan, which he thinks is insane); and Joe, Fergusson’s manservant, who like many of Verne’s servants seems to know how to do everything. Joe, an irrepressible optimist, has a unique perspective: after watching the locust horde strip the ground below them bare, he compares them to “airborne shrimp.” But he's no caricature. On more than one occasion, the “gallant” Joe is prepared to make the supreme sacrifice to save his companions.
There are many such trios in Verne novels, and clearly he found it a comfortable pattern from the beginning.
Other events foreshadow later novels. At one point the explorers are becalmed in the desert. The description of their thirst and despair is harrowing and is every bit as compelling as a similar scene in Journey to the Center of the Earth. Verne could be sadistic toward his characters at times: in Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas, it's oxygen that's in short supply. And as in the other two novels, the one who is closest to perishing is rescued by his comrades, who give him the last tiny atom of the life-giving substance from the bottom of the last container.
The fly in the ointment is Verne's patronizing attitudes toward the native peoples of Africa. He was no fan of colonialism, but he swam in that sea and internalized some of those values. There are times when he describes the African people with admiration, but he also uses the word “savage” on a regular basis, and the behavior he describes is often violent, barbaric, and superstitious. Yet a dying missionary rescued from cannibals by the travelers speaks of his captors with respect and devotion. The two attitudes exist in an unstable and uncomfortable relation to each other.
There are other areas where there's an uneasy balance. The explorers kill a magnificent elephant and admire its grandeur — just before they cut it up and eat it. To his credit, Fergusson, like Captain Nemo after him, is strongly opposed to hunting just for the sake of killing. But Verne describes the hunt itself with relish.
It's impossible for me to read a Jules Verne novel without breaking out a map. Far more than being the “father of science fiction,” he's the originator and practically sole practitioner of a genre that can best be described as “adventures in geography.” The problem, of course, is that maps have changed a lot since the novel was first published in 1863, probably maps of Africa more so than maps of other continents. So following the route of the adventurers can be a challenge. Hint: do a web search for “five weeks in a balloon map”. You should be able to find one “prepared by LJ Hetzel” specifically for this novel. A lot of it doesn't match our current knowledge of African geography, but it shows you what Verne thought was there.
Apart from the reservations expressed above, the book is a grand adventure and listening to it is a treat. Graham Scott is a superb narrator. I hope he narrates more Verne novels, especially if he continues to pick excellent translations like this one. It's a great fit.
But do yourself a favor after you've listened to the audiobook. Go out and buy the book itself — but make sure it's this edition. Doing that will give you the translator’s excellent introduction and notes, the wonderful illustrations reproduced from an early French edition, an annotated list of explorers mentioned in the text, and a bibliography of Jules Verne in English that sorts out the good translations from the bad ones.
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