“He lived alone, and, so to speak, outside of every social relation and as he knew that in this world account must be taken of friction, and that friction retards, he never rubbed against anybody.” ~ Jules Verne, Around the World in Eighty Days With careful calculation, the duo endeavors to complete the task on or before December 21. Fogg leads a life dictated by mathematical precision so at exactly 8:45 PM on October 2, he and Passepartout departed from London. Passepartout’s predecessor was dismissed for bringing Fogg a shaving water at 84 degrees Fahrenheit, two degrees lower than Fogg’s requirement. In exchange for successfully circumnavigating the world in 80 days, Fogg will receive £20,000 as a reward.Īccompanying Fogg in his adventure is his newly employed French valet, Jean Passepartout. The story originates in London and begun when Fogg accepted the wager. Initially published in French in 1872, it is the eleventh book in Verne’s expansive and extensive Voyages extraordinaires (The Extraordinary Voyages) series. Phileas Fogg’s adventure was charted in French writer Jules Verne’s ever-popular work, Around the World in Eighty Days. The task is no easy feat – circumnavigating the world in eighty days. In living up to the spirit of this axiom, Phileas Fogg, the quintessence of an English gentleman, took up the challenge issued by Reform Club of London. It is a mantra that we repeatedly encounter in our quotidian lives. But the positive spirit ripples to other aspects of life as well. The uplifting roar of “you can do it, you can do it” reverberates through the halls of competitions. “ What the mind can conceive, the body can achieve,” goes the timeless adage.

Around the world in eighty days book