The Mysterious Island

I will pick Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island for a non-business favorite. I don’t claim this is the best book out there. Not even in its category (whatever that is). But I adored this book as a young boy. I remember that the night when I was approaching the end of the book a power outage happened, and I finished it reading it with the help of candle light. I love this book that much. Jules Verne introduces a world full of mysteries, with challenges that seem insurmountable but with heroes that always find ingenious ways to overcome them using science and strength of character. It is also part of a Universe (like the Marvel one), building on some of the reveals from “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” or “In Search of the Castaways”. Maybe your readers shouldn’t rush and grab this one unless they are 14 yrs old or deeply into steampunk adventure stories. But it meant a lot to me at the time. Maybe it sparked my interest in sciences or cultivated my sense of adventure.

I was in the 8th grade and I was studying for my upcoming exams to get into highschool. Back then, I loved Jules Verne and hated math. I think that’s when I first started “tricking” myself into doing what I hate (but it’s good for me) using a book I liked. I would tell myself that I would be allowed to read a new chapter of The Mysterious Island after every X number of math problems I’d solve. And, gosh, I loved that book. I would finish a chapter, rush to do my X math tasks, just so I could go back to read another chapter.