Books › The twenty-one balloons
The twenty-one balloons
First published 1965 · 192 pages
A delightfully deadpan, Jules Verne-esque romp through a secret society of eccentric inventors and explosive secrets.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like discovering a secret, meticulously illustrated journal of a mad scientist who happens to be a perfect gentleman. The narrative moves at a brisk, engaging clip, balancing the quiet humor of a man who just wants to be left alone with the dazzling, wide-eyed wonder of discovering a hidden utopian society. The atmosphere is steeped in eccentric invention, where every bizarre contraption and societal quirk is described with delightful, deadpan precision. It is a wondrous, sunlit adventure that feels both vintage and timeless, wrapping the reader in a cozy yet thrilling atmosphere of discovery. Fans of whimsical world-building and clever, Rube Goldberg-esque contraptions will find themselves completely enchanted by this explosive, high-flying journey.
- Mood
- wondrous
- eccentric
- adventurous
- utopian
- Tone
- deadpan
- whimsical
- gentlemanly
- inventive
- wry
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- the joy of invention · utopian ideals · solitude versus society · eccentricity · the power of nature
- The writing
- Precise, polite, and delightfully matter-of-fact, treating the utterly absurd with the serious detail of a scientific journal.
- The arc
- Moves from a humorous desire for absolute solitude into wide-eyed wonder at a bizarre utopian society, culminating in a thrilling, chaotic escape.
- Who it's for
- Anyone who loves tinkering, Jules Verne-style adventures, and meticulously detailed, whimsical worlds filled with eccentric characters.
Content notes
- volcanic eruption
- peril
About the book
Professor William Waterman Sherman just wants to be alone. So he decides to take a year off and spend it crossing the Pacific Ocean in a hot-air balloon the likes of which no one has ever seen. But when he is found after just three weeks floating in the Atlantic among the wreckage of twenty hot-air balloons, naturally, the world is eager to know what happened. How did he end up with so many balloons... and in the wrong ocean?
Description from Open Library.
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