20,000 Leagues Under the Sea / Jules Verne / 371 pages / Deceased Author November Challenge

This classic penned in 1870 was well ahead of its time, foretelling many technological advancements and inventions of the twentieth century.  It reads like a complex guide to life beneath the seas and travel upon them - an oceanographic manual if you will.  After an American frigate meets with an untimely massive explosion while attempting to track down and incapacitate a monstrous narwhal believed to be decimating ships and shipping, three survivors are taken aboard Captain Nemo's submarine, the Nautilus...a French scientist intent on writing a guide to the oceans, his man servant - an excellent classifier, and a Canadian huntsman/harpoon expert.  We travel with them on an odyssey around the world.  This book speaks much to the inherent value of freedom to the human psyche.