Recommendations

Books Like Autour de la Lune by Jules Verne

Books for readers who loved the Moon orbit adventure and want more of Barbicane, Nicholl, and Ardan

Autour de la Lune (1870) completes the Moon voyage begun in De la Terre à la Lune — three men circling the Moon in their projectile and returning safely to Earth. These 8 books share its return-journey structure, its observations of a strange world from a vessel, and its comedy of obsessive men in enclosed spaces.

  1. De la Terre à la Lune cover
    1

    De la Terre à la Lune

    by Jules Verne

    The essential first part — the founding of the Gun Club, the construction of the Columbiad, and the launch; Autour de la Lune continues directly from the end of De la Terre

    Buy on Amazon
  2. L'Île mystérieuse cover
    2

    L'Île mystérieuse

    by Jules Verne

    Verne's most complete novel — five castaways building a civilization while Captain Nemo aids them secretly; the terrestrial parallel to the Moon voyagers' exploration of the unknown

    Buy on Amazon
  3. 3

    The First Men in the Moon

    by H.G. Wells

    Wells's Moon voyage in response to Verne — two Englishmen find an entire Selenite civilization underground; the British scientific romance that takes Verne's trajectory into wonder

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  4. 2001: A Space Odyssey cover
    4

    2001: A Space Odyssey

    by Arthur C. Clarke

    Clarke's Moon voyage that Verne's anticipates — the Discovery mission to Jupiter as the actual realization of Barbicane's Columbiad dream with the addition of HAL 9000

    Buy on Amazon
  5. The Martian Chronicles cover
    5

    The Martian Chronicles

    by Ray Bradbury

    Bradbury's lyrical meditation on a world encountered from a spacecraft — the Martian surface seen by successive expeditions has the same quality of otherness as Verne's lunar observations

    Buy on Amazon
  6. Rendezvous with Rama cover
    6

    Rendezvous with Rama

    by Arthur C. Clarke

    The mysterious vessel circled and explored — humanity investigating the alien spacecraft as Barbicane and his companions investigate the lunar surface; the same structure of encounter with the unknown from a vehicle

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  7. Vingt mille lieues sous les mers cover
    7

    Vingt mille lieues sous les mers

    by Jules Verne

    The companion great Verne novel of 1870 — Captain Nemo's submarine as the ocean equivalent of the projectile; both are enclosed vessels allowing the observation of an otherwise inaccessible world

    Buy on Amazon
  8. Contact cover
    8

    Contact

    by Carl Sagan

    Ellie Arroway's journey through the Machine — the scientist who makes contact with the unknown as the modern equivalent of Barbicane; both use scientific rigor to approach what has never been reached

    Buy on Amazon

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