Chapter one
A Strange Message
Otto Lidenbrock is the famous professor of geology at the University of Hamburg, in
Germany. He is also my uncle. He is sixty-five years old, not very tall, with grey hair. He wears
small round gold glasses that make him look very serious.
I'm Axel. I'm only nineteen and the professor's personal assistant. I watch my uncle very
carefully when he works. That's why I know so much about our planet - Earth.
My uncle, the professor, is a hard worker. He spends most of his day in his laboratory at the