By weaving science lessons into roiling adventure tales, Verne and Hetzel strove to circumvent those strictures.

FORBES: Eerily Prescient

"They have a feeling they aren't getting what they should get, " says Circe Wallace-Hetzel, an agent for IMS Sports.

FORBES: OutFront

Spurred on by his publisher, Pierre-Jules Hetzel, Verne often included in the texts didactic technical explanations of how his inventions worked.

FORBES: Eerily Prescient

"You can't get a group of skaters and snowboarders in one room and have them agree on anything other than wanting more money, " says Wallace-Hetzel.

FORBES: X-treme Economics

Verne's deal with Hetzel, his shrewd publisher, was less lucrative.

FORBES: Eerily Prescient