Fifteen Teacups and Saucers

 

Lately, I've been rereading old Jules Verne novels: Around the World in Eighty Days, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, From Earth to the Moon, The Mysterious Island, and In Search of the Castaways. These were all written more than 150 years ago, but they’re just as riveting today. Jules Verne was one of the first writers of what we now call science fiction. He envisioned technologies that wouldn’t exist for well over a century. The very best science fiction can change the way we see our own future, and, in doing so, change the shape of the future itself. Jules Verne’s works fall into this category. I’d like to read more of his books (he wrote nearly 60), but they’re rather thin on the ground. I find myself wanting to re-watch all the movies based on his novels, and aching to revisit the steam-punk Jules Verne-themed Tomorrowland in Disneyland Paris.