Five Weeks in a Balloon: Journeys and Discoveries in Africa by Three Englishmen (Forgotten Books) - Softcover

"Five Weeks in a Balloon, or, Journeys and Discoveries in Africa by Three Englishmen is an 1863 novel by Jules Verne.

It is the first Verne novel in which he perfected the "ingredients" of his later work, skillfully mixing a plot full of adventure and twists that hold the reader's interest with passages of technical, geographic, and historic description. The book gives readers a glimpse of the exploration of Africa, which was still not completely known to Europeans of the time, with explorers traveling all over the continent in search of its secrets.

Public interest in fanciful tales of African exploration was at its height, and the book was an instant hit; it made Verne financially independent and got him a contract with Jules Hetzel's publishing house, which put out several dozen more works of his for over forty years afterward.

Five Weeks in a Balloon is rare and hard to find on the bookshelves but it is still seeing print by smaller publishers like Twin Engine Productions HB, 1st World Library and Cosimo Classics." (Quote from wikipedia.org)

About the Author

"Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828 - March 24, 1905) was a French author who pioneered the science-fiction genre. He is best known for novels such as Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before air travel and practical submarines were invented, and before practical means of space travel had been devised. He is the third most translated author in the world, according to Index Translationum. Some of his books have been made into films. Verne, along with H. G. Wells, is often popularly referred to as the "Father of Science Fiction"." (Quote from wikipedia.org)

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