The complete online text of A Voyage in a Balloon (1852) by Jules Verne.

The French novelist Jules Verne (1828-1905) was the first authentic exponent of modern science fiction. The best of his work is characterized by intelligent predictions of technical achievements actually within man's grasp at the time Verne wrote. Jules...

Jules Verne is arguably one of the most misunderstood writers of the entire French literary tradition. Although ranked as the fifth most-translated author of all time (behind Lenin, Agatha Christie, Walt Disney, and the Bible--according to a UNESCO poll)...

"From now on I will travel only in my imagination." So said an embarrassed eleven-year-old to his mother after being returned home after a failed runaway attempt. The year was 1839; the boy had crept from his bedroom and through the dark streets of Nante...

AKRON, Ohio -- Winds that were just a bit too strong and blowing in the wrong direction forced the postponement early yesterday of the launch of the Virgin Earthwinds balloon on its attempt to make the first balloon circumnavigation of the globe. The...

Eleven-year-old Michael Reifsteck has already wandered the halls of the United Nations in New York. So his first balloon flight Friday was no big deal. He looked perfectly calm, even though Mayor Martin Chvez announced that he himself would be the pilot,...