French novelist Jules Verne -- "the man who invented the future" -- captured and intensified the human impulse to explore the world's hidden regions. This prophetic 1870 adventure novel, centering on a fabulous underwater craft commanded by the brilliant and mysterious Captain Nemo, was written well before the development of the deep-water submarine.
Combining marvelous scientific achievements with common, everyday events, the story brims with intricate descriptions of a futuristic vessel and bizarre scenes of life on the ocean's bottom. Sights include Red Sea coral, wreckage from a...

Coldhearted Ebenezer Scrooge has no use for Christmas cheer. He rejects a dinner invitation from his jolly nephew, scolds charity workers, and very begrudgingly allows his clerk a day off. All the warmth and joy of the holiday are humbug to Scrooge until Jacob Marley, his long-dead business partner, pays a call. Marley's spirit is the first in a series of ghostly visitors who offer visions of the past, present, and future -- warnings that transform a bitter old miser into a charitable and compassionate man.
First published in 1843, A Christmas Carol was an instant success and...