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Summary: excellent "how to survive with nothing but your wits" book
Review: An incredible story of a group of men who took what their situation gave and stuck it out. An excellent example of Defoeism.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favourites
Review: Jules verne is one of my favourite authors.This book is lesser known than his other works but very enjoyable to read.
Rating:
Summary: Excellant read. Recommended for go-it-alone survivalists.
Review: I never knew this book existed until I found out about it at amazon.com. Otherwise, I would have devoured it a long time ago. Robinson Crusoe was a book I loved and wished would never come to an end and The Mysterious Island is written in the same vein. The beginning of the book seemed to move along slowly for me but towards the middle and ever after, I couldn't put the book down. There were a number of things in the beginning that I felt were a bit unbelievable but forgivable. Maybe that is because I was never very good at building things as these men are. If you are an engineer type, this book could be a real inspiration. Later on in the book, the adventurers (an exceptional lot) have more and more unexplainable things happen to them and I guess that is what kept me glued. That and the delight of making it totally on ones own in an island wilderness. I liked how the group of five stuck together and got along so well. Even helping others out. Isaac Asimov comments at the end were very insightful and helped to shed some light on our human response to this type of book.
Rating:
Summary: Much Better Than Robinson Crusoe
Review: I read this book, last month and enjoyed every chapter. It shows how they managed to survive on the island by making tools and items in their cave. Much better than Crusoe, maybe the folks on Gilligans Island should read the novel. They found plants they could use for certian products, and cooking also.
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Summary: Super,Magnificent,Wonderful,the best book i ever read
Review: The first time i read this book in russian.Somebodygave it to me on my birthday.I couldn't stop reading this book.Jules Verne is one of the best writers 19 century. I recommend this book to you,as the best you ever will read
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Summary: Very mysterious, interesting and suspensful!
Review: This book is by far one of the best "stranded on an island" books you could hope for. I have read much of Jules Verne and believe that it is one of his best. There is a suspensful thread running throughout the entire book. The inhabitants of an island are banded together and when they get into a tight spot, there is a mysterious force that always helps out. This force is not revealed until nearly the end. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to everyone, young and old.
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Summary: A very good book that never bores the reader!
Review: The Mysterious Island is a very good book, in that it is packed with various small adventures and interesting and accurate descriptions of various inventions, that amazed me. WHen I finished the book, I almost wanted to live on Lincoln Island (before it got blown up by the volcano. I think it has a very good length, because the story doesn't take two days to read, and it never made me wish there was more detail or adventure. In conclusion, this book was one of the best I have ever read. (Also, it's cool finding out that stuff about Captain Nemo after having read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea!)
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Summary: If you liked this one...
Review: Excellant! One of a class of books like Robinson Caruso, Swiss Familiy Robinson. You might also include Coral Island and Lord of the Files. But did you know that Verne also wrote a boy's story called The Long Vacation which tells a similar (and perhaps even better) story? If you can find it, that is great too! p.s. There is a little bit of racism in both of these Verne books. Both have a black cabin boy character who is black although neither are treated badly and both are very positive characters.
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Summary: Adventure Unlimited
Review: Mention Jules Verne, and books that spring to mind are 20,000 Leagues, Around the World in 80 days, and Journey to the Center of the Earth. The Mysterious Island is one of his lesser known works, which is something of a mystery itself. The book surpasses one's imagination and never fails to surprise. From the initial pages when Capt. Cyrus Harding and his friends decide to escape from a prison camp, the story seizes the complete attention of the reader, and unfolds at a pace and in a direction excelling Jules Verne's characteristic stories. The spirit and ingenuity of man is demonstrated in almost every page, as Cyrus and Co. find themselves marooned on a deserted island, and armed with only their wits, transform their desperate situation into a wonder world of science and technology. The reader is drawn into the adventure and finds himself trying to find solutions to the problems and obstacles that lie in plenty for the castaways, as Cyrus and his indomitable friends surmount myriad problems in their fight for survival. They are aided in their ventures by an uncanny and eerie source that remains a mystery until the very end. This book cannot fail to fascinate and inspire awe in the mind of any reader. One begins to grasp the marvels and inventive genius behind the simple daily conveniences and devices that are normally taken for granted. The line between reality and fantasy is incredibly thin, and for sheer reading pleasure and boundless adventure, this book will never cease to please. PS: The book has been adapted into a movie, which is one of the worst adaptations of any novel that I have ever had the misfortune of viewing. It is criminal to even mention the movie and the original work in the same breath.
Rating:
Summary: A favorite since childhood.
Review: I first read this bood back in grade school, and it never gets
old. A typical work by Verne-outstanding.
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