10 h 12 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the force that holds us to Earth could carry us toward Jupiter and Saturn instead?
In John Jacob Astor’s A Journey in Other Worlds, the year is 2000, and engineers reshape Earth. Three friends look beyond it. Thoughtful Ayrault, determined Colonel Bearwarden, and the scholarly Dr. Cortlandt set out in a craft powered by apergy, an imagined force that works against gravity.
Their voyage takes them to Jupiter and Saturn, pictured through the astronomy of Astor’s day. Adventure gives way to patient explanations of gravity, heat, light, and planetary life. Alongside these questions, the novel explores science, faith, and the soul, imagining what might lie beyond death rather than stopping at the limits of the visible world.
What you’ll discover
- Earth remade by engineers Step into a future where technology shapes the world the travelers prepare to leave.
- A force against gravity Follow the possibilities of apergy, Astor’s imagined means of pushing a craft away from planets.
- Giant planets imagined alive Visit Jupiter and Saturn as Astor pictures them through the science of his time.
- Three minds in motion Share Ayrault’s watchful curiosity, Bearwarden’s determination, and Cortlandt’s urge to explain what they encounter.
- Questions beyond the planets Explore a hopeful, sometimes strange vision of the soul alongside the voyage through space.
Who will love it
For readers who love early science fiction, Victorian visions of the future, and stories where ideas matter as much as plot, with planetary adventures and questions about science, faith and the soul.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A future Earth reshaped by engineers
- Three friends and a plan to leave Earth
- Apergy, the force that defies gravity
- Jupiter and Saturn as living worlds
- Science, faith and questions of the soul
- How the book is told and why it lasts
Who’s who
- AyraultA thoughtful member of the party who watches closely and shares in what the friends see and learn on their voyage.
- Colonel BearwardenA rich and determined man who leads the venture and wants to see the planets with his own eyes.
- Dr. CortlandtA scholar of science who explains the wonders the travelers meet and tries to reason about what they mean.
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- Large print hardcover
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A Journey in Other Worlds
by John Jacob Astor · 1894
Three friends leave Earth for Jupiter and Saturn, seeking new worlds and answers about the soul.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A future Earth reshaped by engineers
The story opens in the year 2000, and the world it shows is far from the one Astor knew. Technology has grown into a power that people take for granted. Electricity does much of the work, and large engineering projects have changed the planet itself. The book gives a good deal of space to this setting before anyone leaves the ground.
Astor uses these early pages to show what he thinks science can achieve. The Earth of his future is a place where bold schemes are carried out by wealthy and capable men. The tone is calm and confident. Readers meet a society that trusts reason and machinery to solve problems that once seemed beyond reach.
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What is A Journey in Other Worlds about?
It is a science fiction novel set in the year 2000. A group of friends builds a spaceship and travels to Jupiter and Saturn, studying the planets and thinking about science, faith and the soul.
Who wrote A Journey in Other Worlds and when?
John Jacob Astor wrote it, and it was published in 1894. Astor was a wealthy New York businessman and inventor who died in 1912.
What is apergy in A Journey in Other Worlds?
Apergy is an invented force in the novel that works against gravity. It lets the travelers push their ship away from a planet and cross space to other worlds.
The author
John Jacob Astor
1763–1848 · American novelist and businessman
German-American businessman.
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