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 historic naval battle, Antarctic ice shelves, and the mythical city of Atlantis. Rousing adventures range from a confrontation with a giant squid to an encounter with belligerent cannibals.