Verne Jules 
A Journey into the Center of the Earth (Annotated) 

A daring geology professor stumbles across a document in which a 16th-century explorer claims to have discovered a way to the earth’s core. Professor Lidenbrock can’t pass up the chance to investigate, so he and his nephew Axel head out across Iceland with Hans Bjelke, a local guide. The expedition descends into an extinct volcano in search of a sunless sea, where they discover a subterranean world of brilliant rocks, antediluvian forests, and strange aquatic life – a living past that bears the keys to humanity’s origins.