Book Review: From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne

If theres one thing that Ive learned from watching American TV, its that Americans really do like their guns. Or really, anything that makes other stuff go boom. If Jules Vernes humorous novella'From the Earth to the Moon is anything to go by, this is a widely observed fact, and has been for a good deal of time now.

The novella cheekily reflects on a post-civil war environment where all the guns, munitions and artillery are lain down in the name of peace, leaving plenty of gun-totin Americans feeling a tad impotent.

But another thing Ive learned about Americans (also from TV) is that the right to congregation is something held in high regard. So its no surprise then when the gun-lovers of Baltimore get together to create the Baltimore Gun Club in order to angst over the dearth of things'left to blow up. A touch of existential angst is in order, and the club sits about lamenting the uselessness of them thar shootin machines. Until club president Impey Barbicane shows his impish side and suggests a use for the weapons and weaponry knowledge presently going unused: to build a giant cannon and shoot a rocket to the moon in order to conquer it as the newest of the US states.

Ah, nothing like space exploration being inspired not out of any scientific desire but purely out of the need for destruction and a desperate desire to prove that ones cannon is bigger than ones competitors. (Indeed, Barbicane quite hilariously states, There is no one among you, my brave colleagues, who has not seen the Moon, or, at least, heard speak of it. highlighting the utter lack of scientific inclination of those involved).

After this, the specifications are worked out and funding is sought from worldwide. Impressively enough, Barbicane and his cronies manage to snag some solid funding from just about everyone save for England (who feared that contributing to such a thing would be interventionist), and the race is on. The novel ends, however, with a slight twist: rather than simply shooting an empty rocket into space, said rocket ends up being manned, with the question of what happens to these passengers left up in the air (although presumably they survive given that theres a sequel to this called Around the Moon. And as much as Verne rather likes writing chapters entirely free of characters, surely he wouldnt write an entire book in such a way.)

From the Earth to the Moon'is both a slight volume and a simple one, and doesnt have the enduring appeal of his adventure narratives, in part because our present has diverged so far from that which he describes in the book (and er, also because of Vernes trade-mark university lecture-esque chapters). But at the same time, there are an extraordinary number of parallels between the mission as described in the book and that of the Apollo 11 launch. There are also a number of thematic elements here that intrigue. The fact that the science, although certainly present, is secondary to the desire for colonisation or plain ol blowing things up; and the fact that the Americans efforts gain almost universal appeal from the rest of the world. Theres such optimism here: rather than a space race, its a solo flight cheered on by those with absolutely nothing to gain from the matter.

Similarly, said optimism, or perhaps delusion, is seen in the fact that three blokes are perfectly happy with being cannon-shotted off to the moon in the vague hopes that therell be water and oxygen enough there to sustain them. Then again, one supposes that similarly gung-ho attitudes were applied when discovering new continents

From the Earth to the Moon'isnt Verne at his finest, but its an amusing read that will have you chuckling at those crazy Americans and their obsession with the right to bear armsfor whatever reason.

Rating: (not bad)

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