Phileas Fogg, a distinguished member of Londons Reform Club, takes up a wager to circle the globe in just eighty days. Together with manservant Passepartout and a detective named Fix, Fogg makes a fantastic world tour utilizing every means of transportation available in the 1870s. This is a marvelous travelogue mixed with dazzling suspense, delightful fantasy, and lively comedy.

Jules Verne (1828-1905) is considered by many the father of science fiction. Born in Nantes, France, he studied law but turned to writing opera libretti until the 1863 publication of his first Voyages extraordinaires—Cinq Semaines en ballon (Five Weeks in a Balloon). Its success encouraged him to produce a number of classic and prophetic science-fiction novels, including A Journey to the Center of the Earth and Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea. Verne's stories foresaw many scientific and technological developments, including the submarine, television, and space travel.

Frederick Davidson (1932-2005) recorded over seven hundred audiobooks, was nominated for a Grammy, and received numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards. He was as at home with mysteries and humour as with histories or the classics. In one of his last interviews, he said, "I really believe I was born to record audiobooks." We couldn't agree more. We will miss him. (AudioFile)