Week of 2008-02-02 16:00 to 2008-02-09 15:59

Happy birthday to Jules Verne, born this date in 1828. He’s recently become one of my favorite writers.

The past few months I’ve been catching up on a bunch of literature from the 18th and 19th centuries, including the mighty duo of Verne and H.G. Wells. Here’s a little of what I wrote about A Journey to the Interior of the Earth last November:

What struck me most was how modern much of the writing seemed, at least for the time period; the author’s voice, though strained through a translator’s filter, seemed to evidence an inherent humor and friendliness.

The characterization of the two main people was superb — both the professor and his nephew were well-developed personalities, more than making up for the relative cyphers of Hans and the few other characters. They had a depth (appropriately enough), with Professor Liedenbrock a brusque, haughty scientist whose compassion could still shine through when his nephew was in danger. And Axel, a scaredy-cat who can come up with all kinds of reasons why their adventure is foolhardy, but still maintains his scientific curiosity and a bravado when it counts.

Thanks to Project Gutenberg, many of his works are available online to read.

Tangential update: Bruce Sterling has a theory about the current Undersea Cable-Severing Conspiracy —

Captain Nemo did it. Better send Professor Aronnax out to investigate.

I would feel obligated to link to these sites even if the names weren’t too perfect not to — the photographs are very cool, and both sites have a natural history bent to them.

First is Fahrenheit minus 459, “Absolute Zero where all motions stopped - Freeze frame - images through my looking glass.”

And then the companion site, Celsius -273, “A sequel to Fahrenheit -459. Both are references to the same temperature point - ABSOLUTE ZERO.”

So, quite a bit colder than Celsius1414, but worth a look nonetheless.