Book 38 ~ 5 Weeks in a Balloon

5 Weeks in a Balloon ~ Jules Verne

 

Jules Verne’s 2nd novel, but considered the first where he got the formula right for his future ‘adventure stories’. Although my first thoughts and perhaps yours too, is that it should be ‘ Around the World in 80 Days’ which Verne wrote about a decade later, but a hot air balloon didn’t feature in the book, it was only in the film adaptations of ‘ Around the World in 80 Days’ that one appeared. However ‘5 Weeks in a Balloon’ strangely as the title suggests did, and why it has become the book title to portray. Being a lesser known title by most then it’s also good to highlight it over Verne’s more well known novels such as ’80 days’ and ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea’.

5 Weeks in a Balloon ~ Jules Verne:  Dr. Samuel Ferguson, a scholar and explorer, is joined by  his servant Joe and his friend Dick Kennedy, as he sets out to travel across the African continent which is still not fully explored, in a hydrogen filled balloon. Whilst on their travels, the trio have to escape a variety of setbacks they encounter whilst on their journey.