
Topsy-Turvy
by Jules Verne
'Topsy-Turvy ' Summary
In the year of 189–, an international auction is organized to define the sovereign rights to the part of the Arctic extending from the 84th parallel, the highest yet reached by man, to the North Pole. Several countries send their official delegates, but the auction is won by a representative from an anonymous United States buyer.
After the auction closes, the mysterious buyer is revealed to be Barbicane and Co., a company founded by Impey Barbicane, J.T. Maston and Captain Nicholl — the same members of the Baltimore Gun Club who, twenty years earlier, had traveled around the Moon inside a large cannon shell. The brave gunmen-astronauts had come out of their retirement with an even more ambitious engineering project: using the recoil of a huge cannon to remove the tilt of the Earth's axis — so that it would become perpendicular to the planet's orbit, like Jupiter's.
That change would bring an end to seasons, as day and night would be always equal and each place would have the same climate all year round. The society's interest lay in another effect of the recoil: a displacement of the Earth's rotation axis, that would bring the lands around the North Pole, which they had secured in the auction, to latitude 67 north. Then the vast coal deposits that were conjectured to exist under the ice could be easily mined and sold. The technical feasibility of the plan had been confirmed by J. T. Maston's computations. The necessary capital had been provided by Ms. Evangelina Scorbitt, a wealthy widow and ardent admirer of Maston.
Book Details
Authors

Jules Verne
France
Verne is considered to be an important author in France and most of Europe, where he has had a wide influence on the literary avant-garde and on surrealism. His reputation was markedly different in an...
Books by Jules VerneDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
- Select Speed
Related books

Micah Clarke by Arthur Conan Doyle
Micah Clarke is a classic tale of heroism and sacrifice. It is a story about the power of conviction and the importance of standing up for what you be...

King of the Khyber Rifles by Talbot Mundy
Set against the backdrop of World War I and the turbulent political landscape of India, "King of the Khyber Rifles" follows the daring exploits of Ath...

Clock Strikes Thirteen by Mildred A. Wirt Benson
In "The Clock Strikes Thirteen", Penny Parker, a sharp-witted teen reporter, finds herself embroiled in a double mystery. A strange extra chime on the...

Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus (Edition 1831) by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus is a gothic novel that explores the themes of scientific hubris, the nature of humanity, and the consequences o...

The Clue of the Gold Coin by Helen Wells
When a mysterious gold coin bearing a cryptic message arrives in the mail, it sets the stage for a thrilling mystery that will keep readers guessing u...

Stories from the Adirondacks by Albert A. Young
Stories from the Adirondacks is a collection of five tales set in the rugged and beautiful Adirondack Mountains of New York State. Each story delves i...

Wunderbares Ereignis des Dr. Jekyll und Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Der Roman "Der seltsame Fall des Dr. Jekyll und Mr. Hyde" ist ein klassischer Gothic-Thriller, der in der viktorianischen Ära spielt. Der angesehene...

Journals of Robert Falcon Scott; Volume 1 of 'Scott's Last Expedition' by Robert Falcon Scott
This volume presents the journals of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, chronicling his ill-fated expedition to the South Pole in 1911. The diary entries of...

Leila; or The Island by Ann Fraser Tytler
"Leila; or The Island" by Ann Fraser Tytler whisks readers away to a lush and mysterious setting, where the fates of its characters are entwined with...

Bobbsey Twins at Meadow Brook by Laura Lee Hope
The Bobbsey Twins, fresh from their houseboat escapade, journey to Meadow Brook Farm to visit their cousins. However, their visit is immediately disru...
Reviews for Topsy-Turvy
No reviews posted or approved, yet...