Journey to the Center of the Earth

I first read this book when I was a very young girl, and it is amazing how much of it I recalled upon re-reading it 40 years later. Certainly, the details have faded from my memory, but as I listened to the audiobook (given a glorious reading by Tim Curry) I felt myself transported to my early childhood. I felt again the fascination for geology, paleontology and archeology this book and other similar ones engendered in me. For the book is a veritable encyclopedia of vocabulary and theories from these disciplines. No matter that many of the concepts are outdated, any young person with an interest in the sciences would find the tale of the "savant" Professor Lidenbrock, his fearful nephew Axel and their intrepid guide Hans fascinating. I recall looking up many of the words in a dictionary as I read, and am certain that this book played a key role in my lifelong interest in science and science fiction.