20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

[MSilvia]

I loved the book, but what really stands out in my mind is a scene in the movie where divers are taking treasure from a wreck and are threatened by what no doubt seemed to movie audiences to be a very scary and dangerous nurse shark. I almost fell out of my chair watching it on TV.

 

[ScubaGypsy]

Easily my favorite book. I too have recently reread it and it seems to continue to improve. The following passage by Captain Nemo sums up my feelings when diving:

The sea is everything........Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides. The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence. It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the 'Living Infinite,' ..........The sea does not belong to despots. Upon its surface men can still exercise unjust laws, fight, tear one another to pieces, and be carried away with terrestrial horrors. But at thirty feet below its level, their reign ceases, their influence is quenched, and their power disappears. Ah! sir, live -- live in the bosom of the waters! There only is independence! There I recognise no masters! There I am free!"

 

[D_B]

... "The sea is everything........Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides. The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence. It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the 'Living Infinite,' ..........The sea does not belong to despots. Upon its surface men can still exercise unjust laws, fight, tear one another to pieces, and be carried away with terrestrial horrors. But at thirty feet below its level, their reign ceases, their influence is quenched, and their power disappears. Ah! sir, live -- live in the bosom of the waters! There only is independence! There I recognise no masters! There I am free!"

Good quote GypsyDoc, I love it ... and yet another example of why that book is so good

 

[Barracuda2]

Easily my favorite book. I too have recently reread it and it seems to continue to improve. The following passage by Captain Nemo sums up my feelings when diving:

The sea is everything........Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides. The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence. It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the 'Living Infinite,' ..........The sea does not belong to despots. Upon its surface men can still exercise unjust laws, fight, tear one another to pieces, and be carried away with terrestrial horrors. But at thirty feet below its level, their reign ceases, their influence is quenched, and their power disappears. Ah! sir, live -- live in the bosom of the waters! There only is independence! There I recognise no masters! There I am free!"

One of the key passages we spent two or three periods disecting and pondering in my class when I taught the novel. Thanks for the flashback, GypsyDoc.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

I read the book about twenty-five years ago. I loved it...

 

[RIOceanographer]

It has been 15 years since I read it, but I agree with everyone else here. Great book.

 

[V. G. McGillicuddy]

Yep. Right up there with "War of the Worlds".

-McGill