Around the World in Eighty Days

About the book

Phileas Fogg accepts a wager that he can travel around the world in eighty days, taking his newly employed servant Passepartout into an itinerary governed by timetables and connections. The journey soon encounters difficulties that no calculation can wholly anticipate. Verne combines transport, geography, suspicion, and practical ingenuity with the comic contrast between Fogg's composure and his companion's more expressive reactions. The travellers' choices also test whether another person's need can interrupt a plan built around exact punctuality. Each delay makes time feel like both a measurable quantity and an unpredictable experience. The adventure offers the pleasure of continuous movement while asking how far apparent self-sufficiency depends on strangers, money, institutions, and the willingness to respond when circumstances depart from the schedule.

• Time
• Travel and ingenuity
• Duty and compassion

Why read it

For a briskly varied journey in which the clock provides suspense and the companions provide warmth.

English translation