The Amputee’s Guide to Jules Verne is a reader’s guide to every novel Verne wrote; in that respect alone, there is no other book like it on the market. But it’s more than that. Nick DiMartino has included several essays evaluating Verne’s overall approach as a writer and the values embodied in his work. He has included as well a number of deeply personal essays about his struggles with the loneliness, pain, and lack of mobility that came with being an amputee. It isn’t a gloomy story, though. It’s a celebration—of Verne, of his translators, of the kindness of others, and of life itself.