Today(12-07-09)'s quote of the day is by Jules Verne

Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.

"Jules Verne (1828-1905) Discuss"
Source: http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Verne,+Jules. Accessed December 7, 2009.

Science literacy is enhanced when we understand Verne's quote, and, when we enjoy reading science and science fiction.

Among more than 50 books written by Jules Verne, originally in French, there are popular English translations:

• Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863),
• A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864),
• From the Earth to the Moon (1865),
• Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (1870),
• Around the World in Eighty Days (1873),
• The Mysterious Island (1875), and
• Michael Strogoff (1876).

Students might like to read some of Jules Verne's books and then look at the developments in science that he appeared to envision long before they arrived.

Perhaps students would like to try to write a science fiction story. Ask students if they think a good science fiction writer needs to know science. Find a science fiction tutorial by Jeffrey A. Carver, a science fiction writer (who offers the course as a public service to aspiring writers) on-line at: http://www.writesf.com/.