Around the World in 80 Days published originally as a newspaper serial in 1872 and released as a book the following year was well received in both formats. Its hero Phileas Fogg is a leisured but taciturn Londoner of such mathematically precise habits that he has fired his servant for bringing him shaving water two degrees too cold. Over a game of cards Fogg wagers twenty thousand pounds that he can travel around the world in eighty days or less. What follows is a headlong adventure full of trains ships elephants and wind sledges not to mention human sacrifice duels and Indian attacks. A successful combination of modern speed and period quaintness Around the World in 80 Days has become a delightful timeless steam-driven classic.
