Yep, Around the World in Eighty Days sort of means what it says: Phileas Fogg is going around the world in eighty days. Not seventy-seven, not eighty-four, just plain eighty. If he can do this, he'll win a bet worth 20,000 pounds. The title is sort of a duh, but we'd argue that maybe Verne did this on purpose: The action and adventure of going around the world was sure to bring readers in; what probably shocked them was the great character development and lessons learned throughout the novel that almost overshadow the in-your-face travel plot.