From the Earth to the Moon, Version 2


Read by Mark F. Smith

(4.5 stars; 75 reviews)

Jules Verne takes aim at some amusing stereotypes of Americans in this story of a pre-rocketry attempt to shoot a cannonball to the Moon. Those Yankees don’t do anything by halves!

His means is a Columbiad cannon so enormous that it must be bored 900 feet into the ground, so immense that 1200 smelting furnaces would be needed to create the iron for its casting, so stupendous that 100 tons of guncotton would be needed to loft its cannonball heavenwards.

The journey must be watched from the tallest peak of the Rocky Mountains through a new telescope with a reflector measuring 16 feet in diameter and a tube reaching skyward 280 feet.

And then - a simple telegram upsets all the preparations. An unknown Frenchman has taken ship and is on the way. And he has firmly decided that he will ride inside the projectile! - Summary by Mark F. Smith (5 hr 5 min)

Chapters

01 - The Gun Club 13:45 Read by Mark F. Smith
02 - President Barbicane's Communication 16:19 Read by Mark F. Smith
03 - Effect of the President's Communication 7:32 Read by Mark F. Smith
04 - Reply From the Observatory of Cambridge 12:08 Read by Mark F. Smith
05 - The Romance of the Moon 10:47 Read by Mark F. Smith
06- The Permissive Limits of Ignorance and Belief in the United States 10:44 Read by Mark F. Smith
07 - Hymn of the Cannon-Ball 14:06 Read by Mark F. Smith
08 - History of the Cannon 9:21 Read by Mark F. Smith
09 - The Question of the Powders 11:51 Read by Mark F. Smith
10 - One Enemy vs. Twenty-Five Millions of Friends 10:38 Read by Mark F. Smith
11 - Florida and Texas 10:46 Read by Mark F. Smith
12 - Urbi et Orbi 12:17 Read by Mark F. Smith
13 - Stones Hill 10:26 Read by Mark F. Smith
14 - Pickaxe and Trowel 10:30 Read by Mark F. Smith
15 - The Fete of the Casting 10:29 Read by Mark F. Smith
16 - The Columbiad 9:22 Read by Mark F. Smith
17 - A Telegraphic Despatch 2:14 Read by Mark F. Smith
18 - The Passenger of the 'Atlanta' 12:19 Read by Mark F. Smith
19 - Monster Meeting 16:34 Read by Mark F. Smith
20 - Attack and Riposte 18:55 Read by Mark F. Smith
21 - How a Frenchman Manages an Affair 17:38 Read by Mark F. Smith
22 - The New Citizen of the United States 10:14 Read by Mark F. Smith
23 - The Projectile-Vehicle 7:31 Read by Mark F. Smith
24 - The Telescope of the Rocky Mountains 7:25 Read by Mark F. Smith
25 - Final Details 11:18 Read by Mark F. Smith
26 - Fire! 10:13 Read by Mark F. Smith
27 - Foul Weather 5:34 Read by Mark F. Smith
28 - A New Star 4:53 Read by Mark F. Smith

Reviews


(4 stars)

Published in 1865, I enjoyed this often humorous account of a group of war veterans, private individuals in a gun club, figuring out how to send 3 people and 2 dogs to the moon. At that time Verne even selected Texas and Florida as being likely spots for their blastoff canon! Now I must read the sequel, “Round the Moon” to see how the passengers fared. Excellent reading by Mark Smith.

Wonderful books, wonderful voice


(5 stars)

To tell you the truth: I have taken to just looking up all the books read by Mark F. Smith from Simpsonville Carolina. His reading of “The Mysterious Island” got me hooked. What a voice... And I have loved Jules Verne since I was a child. We used to read him aloud in the weekends in front of the fire, at our small holiday house.

Narrator is awesome.


(5 stars)

The stroy is fantastic. Mark Smith's naŕration is what brings me to this app again and again.

Nice


(4 stars)

it was very interesting to compare the science of the 1800s to what we know about the moon today

it's good


(5 stars)

not the most adventurous book but still worth hey listen


(5 stars)

a wonderful adventure, most excellently read ... onward to the sequel


(5 stars)

Great nineteenth century sci fi read. Mark Smith was Excellent