Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea of the premiere adventure novels and one of Verne's greatest works, along with "Around the World in Eighty Days" and "Journey to the Center of the Earth". The description of Nemo's ship, the "Nautilus", was considered ahead of its time, as it accurately describes features on submarines, which at the time were very primitive vessels. A model of the French submarine "Plongeur" (launched in 1863) was displayed at the 1867 Exposition Universelle, where it was studied by Jules Verne, who used it as an inspiration for the novel. The title refers to the "distance traveled" while under the sea and
Who Wrote The Dead Sea Scrolls? and that they were deposited in the caves near the Dead Sea (among other locations) by Jews fleeing the Roman army during the First Revolt" and that although the book is based in historical, archaeological, and paleographical evidence, "he also lets readers in on his personal efforts to question and oppose the scholarly status quo, leaving the impression of being self-serving." Ilene Cooper from Booklist suggest that public libraries carry this book for "its provocative assertions." Géza Vermes, wrote in his "An Introduction to the Complete Dead Sea Scrolls" (2000), that Golb is responsible for "another forceful attack on the