Jules Verne (1828-1905) was a French novelist, who contributed to the development of the genre of the adventure fiction. The adventure fiction features the strict opposition between the good characters and the evil ones. It also features the exaggeration of the experience and feelings as well as the use of mysteries and riddles. An unexpected ending is typical of such stories. He is often considered the founding father of the science-fiction as well. According to UNESCO Jules Verne's are on the second place out of all the books in the world, judging on the amount of their translations. Five Weeks in a Balloon is the first Verne's novel in which he perfected the "ingredients" of his later work, skillfully mixing a plot full of adventure and twists that hold the reader's interest with passages of technical, geographic, and historic description. The book gives readers a glimpse of the exploration of Africa, which was still not completely known to Europeans of that time. Public interest in fanciful tales of African exploration was at its height, and the book was an instant hit. It made Verne financially independent and got him a worldwide reputation and popularity as a marvelous novelist and traveler.