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Fantastic Voyage #2
Destinazione cervello
Come il famoso "Viaggio allucinante", il romanzo e il film che descrivevano il viaggio di un sottomarino miniaturizzato all'interno del corpo umano, anche questo inatteso seguito di Isaac Asimov ci pone di fronte a un problema quasi impossibile non solo per la fisica, ma anche per la biologia. Viaggiare nell'infinitamente piccolo e avvicinarsi addirittura al cervello dell'uomo sembra un'impresa assurda: ma Asimov vi si è cimentato ancora una volta col gusto del paradosso e dell'avventura. Non per nulla è stato professore di biochimica in una facoltà di medicina e non per nulla ha deciso di abbandonare quella professione per mettersi a scrivere avventure emozionanti come quella di "Destinazione cervello".
481 pages, Paperback
First published August 18, 1987
51 people are currently reading
2158 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,348 books27.9k followersWorks of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles,
The Foundation Trilogy
(1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 125 reviews
August 7, 2023
Despite the title, this novel is not a sequel to the 1966 film for which Asimov wrote the novelization, but rather an original novel in which Asimov tried for scientific accuracy he felt was lacking in the original, with characters wholly of his own making acting only on the motivation he gave them. It was his hope that it would be made into a film, too, though that never happened. It's a more intelligent book than the original, though I thought it did lag a bit in spots due to a little too much political philosophy. (It's almost exactly twice as long as Fantastic Voyage.) Still, it's a fun adventure, and Asimov obviously enjoyed his freedom to turn loose his descriptive imagination on the subatomic world with the same free-wheeling abandon he had unleashed on the vastness of the cosmos.
August 15, 2011
Isaac Asimov once wrote a rather good science fiction adventure novel where five scientists and their submarine are shrunk to the size of a microbe and injected into the body of a comatose scientist. This is not that novel.
I am, of course, talking about his novelization of the movie script for Fantastic Voyage, which he was never quite happy with as it wasn't his own book. Instead, this is the novel he wrote 20 years later, with the same basic premise. Unfortunately, it's more than twice as long as Fantastic Voyage, and while the science may be slightly more solid it also lacks any sense of wonder; the first book (not to mention the movie) was fast-paced and exciting enough to make the plot holes forgiveable, but this one moves like a slug, with the crew bickering every step of the way.
It is possible to write "cerebral" science fiction and make it interesting, as Asimov himself demonstrated quite a few times, but here he doesn't even come close to pulling it off: instead, he manages to take this fantastic, fascinating concept and make it boring. (And it doesn't have Raquel Welch in a tight diving suit, which is a point in favour of the original movie.)
I am, of course, talking about his novelization of the movie script for Fantastic Voyage, which he was never quite happy with as it wasn't his own book. Instead, this is the novel he wrote 20 years later, with the same basic premise. Unfortunately, it's more than twice as long as Fantastic Voyage, and while the science may be slightly more solid it also lacks any sense of wonder; the first book (not to mention the movie) was fast-paced and exciting enough to make the plot holes forgiveable, but this one moves like a slug, with the crew bickering every step of the way.
It is possible to write "cerebral" science fiction and make it interesting, as Asimov himself demonstrated quite a few times, but here he doesn't even come close to pulling it off: instead, he manages to take this fantastic, fascinating concept and make it boring. (And it doesn't have Raquel Welch in a tight diving suit, which is a point in favour of the original movie.)
August 31, 2021
Dicen que es una obra menor de Asimov, y yo no soy el mayor admirador de la ciencia ficción de Asimov, pero enganché esta novela y no pude soltarla. No tenía información sobre el contexto: a Asimov le vinieron a pedir que novelara el guión de una película de mucho éxito, Viaje Alucinante, (con Raquel Welch en el ápice de su belleza, según me repitió decenas de veces mi padre, que era un poco fan, a lo largo de su vida). Hubo partes de la adaptación que Asimov querría haber hecho de otra manera, así que se creó su propio casino, con blackjack y furcias,
y volvió a escribir una novela de lo mismo, pero esta vez suya desde el principio. Una decisión poco infantil y ególatra, muy propia del estilo Asimov, sin duda. Hay que quererle.
El caso es que, desconociendo entonces toda esta información, llegué con la mente limpia a esta novela y me maravilló. En esta segunda entrega el autor cuida mucho más la ciencia, y aprovecha para contar un montón de cosas interesantes de medicina, biología y, por supuesto, física, llegando a internarse en la física cuántica en momentos. Esta novela para mi supuso lo que debe ser una novela de ciencia ficción: totalmente creíble (dentro de la suspensión de la incredulidad estándar), con cosas de las que aprender y con muchas ideas para hacernos pensar. También era yo joven e inexperto en aquel momento y a lo mejor me valía con menos que ahora. En cualquier caso, en mi historia lectora, un punto culmen.
y volvió a escribir una novela de lo mismo, pero esta vez suya desde el principio. Una decisión poco infantil y ególatra, muy propia del estilo Asimov, sin duda. Hay que quererle. El caso es que, desconociendo entonces toda esta información, llegué con la mente limpia a esta novela y me maravilló. En esta segunda entrega el autor cuida mucho más la ciencia, y aprovecha para contar un montón de cosas interesantes de medicina, biología y, por supuesto, física, llegando a internarse en la física cuántica en momentos. Esta novela para mi supuso lo que debe ser una novela de ciencia ficción: totalmente creíble (dentro de la suspensión de la incredulidad estándar), con cosas de las que aprender y con muchas ideas para hacernos pensar. También era yo joven e inexperto en aquel momento y a lo mejor me valía con menos que ahora. En cualquier caso, en mi historia lectora, un punto culmen.
April 14, 2010
The world-famous science-fiction novel has come down with an acute case of sequelitis, which has left it in a brain-dead vegetative state. They send in a microminiaturized team of script-writers to try and operate, but it's hopeless, and the patient dies on the table. The end.
May 28, 2019
This has a much stronger focus on characters than I expected from a classic scifi author, they were really defined and interesting. I didn´t like the protagonist Morris and he was the least interesting out of the bunch, still he was a way for Western readers back then to observe the Russian characters and science.
Talking about science, the author was not able to shut up about it. While I really enjoyed reading this book, all the science talk sometimes kept me from picking it up. It was just too much and made the whole adventure part of the story much less interesting for me than the set-up (where we get to know the sitation and characters in a really nice way).
Apart from that, which really broke the flow for me, I really enjoyed the writing style. There is a lot of focus on dialog and descriptions really worked for me.
This could have been a little shorter but I actually didnt mind that much and I guess the things that other people would have edited out are the parts I liked most.^^
Now I absolutely want to read more by Asimov.
Talking about science, the author was not able to shut up about it. While I really enjoyed reading this book, all the science talk sometimes kept me from picking it up. It was just too much and made the whole adventure part of the story much less interesting for me than the set-up (where we get to know the sitation and characters in a really nice way).
Apart from that, which really broke the flow for me, I really enjoyed the writing style. There is a lot of focus on dialog and descriptions really worked for me.
This could have been a little shorter but I actually didnt mind that much and I guess the things that other people would have edited out are the parts I liked most.^^
Now I absolutely want to read more by Asimov.
September 3, 2021
Okay, so my thoughts on this one are a little weird, because I thought the first Fantastic Voyage book was a lot better. The strange thing is that the first book was a novelisation based on the film, and so Asimov himself said he enjoyed writing this one more because he got to use his own ideas instead of being tied to a story line that someone else had written. Unfortunately, the book and the movie were better.
I think that a large part of that is because Asimov spends so much time setting up the politics of the novel that only half of it is actually dedicated to the titular voyage. That felt like a bit of a cop out, a bit like reading a fantasy novel and finding that most of it was actually about tensions between the US and Chinese governments.
It probably also doesn’t help that even when the novel came out towards the end of the eighties, the whole Soviet vs US thing was no longer as relevant as it was when the original book came out, and even then it only provided the setup. That left this one feeling as though it wasn’t sure what it wanted to be.
There’s also the fact that it’s marketed as a sequel to the original Fantastic Voyage, when it’s actually just the exact same concept but given the Asimov treatment. Normally, I wouldn’t mind too much, but it was done badly as well, and I can’t help but wondering how much of that was down to the fact that Asimov was nearing the end of his life. I also wonder why he bothered to write it in the first place. For the money, I guess?
And so the result is a book that would be substandard for most sci-fi authors and that for Asimov, just feels like a waste of his potential. In fact, I only stuck with it until the end because I’m on a mission to slowly but surely read everything that he ever wrote. It very nearly became a bedtime book, which is the name I give for those that I slowly but surely chip away at in bed each evening. But it wasn’t quite that bad.
I mean, it just is what it is, a pretty underwhelming sci-fi novel that just rehashes the same ideas that were in the novelisation that he wrote which just rehashed the film. You could create the same effect by just watching the movie on 0.5 times speed, except even then, I’d rather do that than re-read this. I held out hope that it would be redeemed by the ending, but no such luck. It’s a damp squib from start to finish.
I think that a large part of that is because Asimov spends so much time setting up the politics of the novel that only half of it is actually dedicated to the titular voyage. That felt like a bit of a cop out, a bit like reading a fantasy novel and finding that most of it was actually about tensions between the US and Chinese governments.
It probably also doesn’t help that even when the novel came out towards the end of the eighties, the whole Soviet vs US thing was no longer as relevant as it was when the original book came out, and even then it only provided the setup. That left this one feeling as though it wasn’t sure what it wanted to be.
There’s also the fact that it’s marketed as a sequel to the original Fantastic Voyage, when it’s actually just the exact same concept but given the Asimov treatment. Normally, I wouldn’t mind too much, but it was done badly as well, and I can’t help but wondering how much of that was down to the fact that Asimov was nearing the end of his life. I also wonder why he bothered to write it in the first place. For the money, I guess?
And so the result is a book that would be substandard for most sci-fi authors and that for Asimov, just feels like a waste of his potential. In fact, I only stuck with it until the end because I’m on a mission to slowly but surely read everything that he ever wrote. It very nearly became a bedtime book, which is the name I give for those that I slowly but surely chip away at in bed each evening. But it wasn’t quite that bad.
I mean, it just is what it is, a pretty underwhelming sci-fi novel that just rehashes the same ideas that were in the novelisation that he wrote which just rehashed the film. You could create the same effect by just watching the movie on 0.5 times speed, except even then, I’d rather do that than re-read this. I held out hope that it would be redeemed by the ending, but no such luck. It’s a damp squib from start to finish.
Read
April 27, 2018An interesting 1987 effort to analyze Soviet-American relations, just prior to the 1990 collapse of the Soviet Union. A Soviet scientist would appear to have unlocked the problem of miniaturization: reducing human beings to the size of an atom, but he now lies in a coma. An American scientist is contacted, and along with some Soviet colleagues, they undergo such a miniaturization operation in order to enter into the brain of their comatose Soviet counterpart. Not remembered, but the premise sounds very interesting. Asimov had written a novelization of the mid-1960s movie Fantastic Voyage, but this work should not be seen as a sequel to that work, which Asimov had mixed feelings toward since it was not solely his own work.
October 26, 2018
Considero que esta novela no está a la altura de la mayoría de obras de Asimov. Aunque tiene el característico análisis científico del autor, durante todo el libro, falta el ingrediente más relevante de Isaac Asimov: sus grandes ideas.
A diferencia del primer libro, el cual era una obra adaptada del cine, éste ha sido fruto de la total libertad artística del autor. Y a mi pesar, me gustó bastante más "Viaje alucinante I". Se notaba mucha más pasión en esa novela.
Sin embargo, el que el autor nos tenga mal acostumbrados no quita que "Viaje alucinante II" sea un libro más que aceptable para pasar un buen rato.
A diferencia del primer libro, el cual era una obra adaptada del cine, éste ha sido fruto de la total libertad artística del autor. Y a mi pesar, me gustó bastante más "Viaje alucinante I". Se notaba mucha más pasión en esa novela.
Sin embargo, el que el autor nos tenga mal acostumbrados no quita que "Viaje alucinante II" sea un libro más que aceptable para pasar un buen rato.
December 1, 2015
Not a sequel, but a retelling. Unhappy with his original novelisation of the movie, Asimov decided to take the idea back to the drawing board and write his version of the story. While book doesn't have Raquel Welch, nor Innerspace's Meg Ryan, it does have a whole new cast. Not quite the pace or excitement of the film, the suspicion is that Asimov was too keen to prove that he could write the story without the perceived issues with the first one...
December 15, 2015
Just suppose a patient with a problem inside the brain; what if miniaturization allowed a team of scientists to travel in a sort of submarine to the damaged area? a journey via blood current....it sounds like Nanotech,...and the book showed up back in 1987.
-Vision.
-Vision.
January 5, 2019
7/10
Aunque Asimov nunca defrauda no recomendaría yo este libro de entre su extensísima biblioteca, no.
Hay pelis, tampoco maravillosas pero siempre con ideas sorprendentes
Aunque Asimov nunca defrauda no recomendaría yo este libro de entre su extensísima biblioteca, no.
Hay pelis, tampoco maravillosas pero siempre con ideas sorprendentes
January 8, 2023
I'd say I wish this was a trilogy
June 26, 2024
Leído: 8.5/10. No es la segunda parte. Es una nueva versión de “Viaje alucinante”.
A mi juicio, la historia mejora con respecto al anterior libro. Pero empeora en su ligereza, ya que este peca de no serlo. Se toma demasiado en serio la parte científica y no deja nada a la imaginación, ahondando en detalles que para el lector son innecesarios y que hace lenta la prosa.
Le sobran 100 páginas de las 350 que tiene, a menos que seas persona de ciencia y adores cada una de las detalladas explicaciones.
Aun así, es una historia de científicos haciendo cosas inimaginables, de un posible futuro, aunque poco probable. Y si tuviera que elegir entre la primera o la segunda versión, escogería esta.
A mi juicio, la historia mejora con respecto al anterior libro. Pero empeora en su ligereza, ya que este peca de no serlo. Se toma demasiado en serio la parte científica y no deja nada a la imaginación, ahondando en detalles que para el lector son innecesarios y que hace lenta la prosa.
Le sobran 100 páginas de las 350 que tiene, a menos que seas persona de ciencia y adores cada una de las detalladas explicaciones.
Aun así, es una historia de científicos haciendo cosas inimaginables, de un posible futuro, aunque poco probable. Y si tuviera que elegir entre la primera o la segunda versión, escogería esta.
September 6, 2021
I wasn’t so sure I would like it at first, but it grabbed me about two-thirds through the book and didn’t let go.
As a writer myself, his use of adverbs in his dialogue attribution bugged me. But there’s no denying the work of a master story-teller.
And his ending remarks of were a hoot and very well set in the story.
I’d recommend this story to anyone who isn’t thrown off by technical terms.
As a writer myself, his use of adverbs in his dialogue attribution bugged me. But there’s no denying the work of a master story-teller.
And his ending remarks of were a hoot and very well set in the story.
I’d recommend this story to anyone who isn’t thrown off by technical terms.
January 18, 2019
Basically a copy of the original story but without as much drama or action. Ottawa & McGill mentioned.
Life is one thing—we all lose it sooner or later. Sanity is quite another. Telepathy involved.
Life is one thing—we all lose it sooner or later. Sanity is quite another. Telepathy involved.
May 4, 2019
Üstadın okuyucuya adeta biyoloji dersi verdiği romanı. Yazarın diğer kitaplarına nazaran daha az sürükleyici ama yine de tempo hiç düşmüyor.
May 19, 2022
ilk okuduğumdan bu yana 30 yıl olmuş, aldığım tat, duygu, heyecan değişmedi...Asimov klasiği, öneririm.
January 4, 2015
In his introduction to Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain, Issac Asimov tells us that he wasn't satisfied with his novelization of Fantastic Voyage and that this novel is an attempt to correct some things he didn't like about the first novel.
The result is this book which is less a sequel to the original and more a re-telling of the original story and concept. Asimov tries his hardest to make the concept of miniaturization more scientifically plausible, but it's at the the cost of making the second installment far less interesting and page-turning. The first novel took about half its page length to get the crew miniaturized and inside the human being in question to try and save life. Unfortunately, so does Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain. At several points, I found myself muttering "Let's get on with the shrinking already" as our hero, Morrison expresses a sense of trepidation about the procedure he is about to undergo.
And it may be with Morrison that this book finds its biggest flaw. Asimov sets up our protagonist as a scientist whose fortunes and favor in the scientific community are on the decline. When approached by a Soviet agent about coming to the Soviet Union to help in an experiment, Morrison is quick to decline, despite the fact that he has no prospects on the horizon in the United States. Even when asked by his own government to go, Morrison declines and eventually has to be kidnapped and taken to the Soviet Union in order to become part of the team.
Morrison protests this treatment a lot over the course of the novel. It feels almost like Asimov wants to remind us every ten or so pages that Morrison has become part of this project against his will. This works to the detriment of the book. Part of the fun of the original was no matter who fantastic the situation, the participants were at least enthusiastic about the opportunity to travel inside a human being and possibly save his life. Here the motivation isn't so much saving a life but not allowing a scientist to die without passing on vital knowledge that could make the process of miniaturization easier and more cost effective.
Yes, you read that correctly. One of the motivating factors for this journey inside the body of a man and to his brain is to unlock his secrets is entirely budgetary. A good reason, sure. But not exactly one that compels you to turn pages and wonder what will happen next. At least the first novel had the specter of the Cold War hanging over it to drive some of the character and plot motivations.
I kept hoping that once our team of scientists got miniaturized and injected into the subject that things might pick up. Unfortunately, this isn't the case and the novel plods along at its leisurely pace even once we're injected and running against the clock. The only moments of tension come when the ship is diverted by a white blood cell and later when Morrison is forced to go to extreme measures to try and make the mission a success. (And even then, he has to be blackmailed into it by the Soviet team though threats of destroying what little is left of his academic reputation.)
The book also suffers from the same flaw that several later Asimov projects do -- his desire to tie all his universes together. Thankfully it's not quite as egregious as Robots and Empire, but there's a coda that makes Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain a stepping stone toward Asimov's Robots and Foundation novels. It's only a couple of pages and it's meant to serve as a coda, so it's a bit easier to overlook and forgive than some of the other examples from the Asimov library, but it's still there.
Had I not read the original novel first, I might have liked this one more. Of course, had I not read the original I might not have been willing to give Asimov the benefit of the doubt I needed to keep plowing through this one in the hopes things would get better.
This one just validates my theory that 80's Asimov output is no where nearly as entertaining and readable as those stories from his early career. I can see what he's trying to do here, but I still think the original novel, despite all of its scientific implausibilities, is a more entertaining and enjoyable reading experience.
The result is this book which is less a sequel to the original and more a re-telling of the original story and concept. Asimov tries his hardest to make the concept of miniaturization more scientifically plausible, but it's at the the cost of making the second installment far less interesting and page-turning. The first novel took about half its page length to get the crew miniaturized and inside the human being in question to try and save life. Unfortunately, so does Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain. At several points, I found myself muttering "Let's get on with the shrinking already" as our hero, Morrison expresses a sense of trepidation about the procedure he is about to undergo.
And it may be with Morrison that this book finds its biggest flaw. Asimov sets up our protagonist as a scientist whose fortunes and favor in the scientific community are on the decline. When approached by a Soviet agent about coming to the Soviet Union to help in an experiment, Morrison is quick to decline, despite the fact that he has no prospects on the horizon in the United States. Even when asked by his own government to go, Morrison declines and eventually has to be kidnapped and taken to the Soviet Union in order to become part of the team.
Morrison protests this treatment a lot over the course of the novel. It feels almost like Asimov wants to remind us every ten or so pages that Morrison has become part of this project against his will. This works to the detriment of the book. Part of the fun of the original was no matter who fantastic the situation, the participants were at least enthusiastic about the opportunity to travel inside a human being and possibly save his life. Here the motivation isn't so much saving a life but not allowing a scientist to die without passing on vital knowledge that could make the process of miniaturization easier and more cost effective.
Yes, you read that correctly. One of the motivating factors for this journey inside the body of a man and to his brain is to unlock his secrets is entirely budgetary. A good reason, sure. But not exactly one that compels you to turn pages and wonder what will happen next. At least the first novel had the specter of the Cold War hanging over it to drive some of the character and plot motivations.
I kept hoping that once our team of scientists got miniaturized and injected into the subject that things might pick up. Unfortunately, this isn't the case and the novel plods along at its leisurely pace even once we're injected and running against the clock. The only moments of tension come when the ship is diverted by a white blood cell and later when Morrison is forced to go to extreme measures to try and make the mission a success. (And even then, he has to be blackmailed into it by the Soviet team though threats of destroying what little is left of his academic reputation.)
The book also suffers from the same flaw that several later Asimov projects do -- his desire to tie all his universes together. Thankfully it's not quite as egregious as Robots and Empire, but there's a coda that makes Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain a stepping stone toward Asimov's Robots and Foundation novels. It's only a couple of pages and it's meant to serve as a coda, so it's a bit easier to overlook and forgive than some of the other examples from the Asimov library, but it's still there.
Had I not read the original novel first, I might have liked this one more. Of course, had I not read the original I might not have been willing to give Asimov the benefit of the doubt I needed to keep plowing through this one in the hopes things would get better.
This one just validates my theory that 80's Asimov output is no where nearly as entertaining and readable as those stories from his early career. I can see what he's trying to do here, but I still think the original novel, despite all of its scientific implausibilities, is a more entertaining and enjoyable reading experience.
January 13, 2026
Seguito ideale di Viaggio allucinante, Destinazione cervello rappresenta un Asimov finalmente libero dai vincoli imposti dalla trasposizione cinematografica del primo romanzo. Qui la storia si fa più solida, più coerente e soprattutto più coinvolgente, perché nasce come romanzo a tutti gli effetti e non come adattamento.
La premessa è simile: scienziati miniaturizzati che vengono introdotti all’interno di un corpo umano, questa volta però il viaggio si spinge fino al cervello, trasformando l’avventura in qualcosa di più cupo e complesso. L’idea scientifica resta affascinante, ma è la struttura narrativa a guadagnarci davvero: la tensione cresce con maggiore naturalezza e l’intreccio risulta più equilibrato.
Personalmente ammetto un debole per il “buon Dottore” in ogni sua incarnazione, e questo probabilmente attenua il mio spirito critico. Ma è innegabile che la capacità di Asimov di rendere comprensibili concetti complessi senza mai sacrificare la credibilità resti uno dei suoi tratti più disarmanti. Anche qui la fantascienza funziona perché è semplice solo in apparenza.
Rispetto al predecessore, l’atmosfera è più cupa e il protagonista assume tratti quasi da antieroe, con meno spazio per l’ironia leggera tipica di Asimov. L’unico vero punto debole è forse l’incipit, che avrebbe potuto essere più rapido; per il resto la caratterizzazione dei personaggi e l’ambientazione interna sono riuscite e originali. Le pagine finali, in particolare, sono di grande intelligenza narrativa.
Un romanzo da leggere in coppia con Viaggio allucinante, ma che regge benissimo anche da solo. Fantascienza classica, solida e brillante.
La premessa è simile: scienziati miniaturizzati che vengono introdotti all’interno di un corpo umano, questa volta però il viaggio si spinge fino al cervello, trasformando l’avventura in qualcosa di più cupo e complesso. L’idea scientifica resta affascinante, ma è la struttura narrativa a guadagnarci davvero: la tensione cresce con maggiore naturalezza e l’intreccio risulta più equilibrato.
Personalmente ammetto un debole per il “buon Dottore” in ogni sua incarnazione, e questo probabilmente attenua il mio spirito critico. Ma è innegabile che la capacità di Asimov di rendere comprensibili concetti complessi senza mai sacrificare la credibilità resti uno dei suoi tratti più disarmanti. Anche qui la fantascienza funziona perché è semplice solo in apparenza.
Rispetto al predecessore, l’atmosfera è più cupa e il protagonista assume tratti quasi da antieroe, con meno spazio per l’ironia leggera tipica di Asimov. L’unico vero punto debole è forse l’incipit, che avrebbe potuto essere più rapido; per il resto la caratterizzazione dei personaggi e l’ambientazione interna sono riuscite e originali. Le pagine finali, in particolare, sono di grande intelligenza narrativa.
Un romanzo da leggere in coppia con Viaggio allucinante, ma che regge benissimo anche da solo. Fantascienza classica, solida e brillante.
May 21, 2012
Asimov's second foray into miniaturization in a self-proclaimed attempt to satisfy himself by writing a better version than the one based on the original screenplay. In many ways, he succeeded. Set in the middle of the 21st century, it is nevertheless a bit dated by virtue of his use of the Soviet Union as the foil to the United States. Such books are interesting in their revelation of how we believed the Soviet Union would never collapse and would continue to be an enemy of sorts. Asimov, however, depicted a period of relative peace between the Cold War adversaries, albeit a cautious one. Here it is the Soviets alone who have the process of miniaturization, but in Asimov's more capable scientific handling they have an enormous energy problem, and this is the vital bit of information that is being sought by sending a submarine into the brain of a comatose physicist.
Many of Asimov's original objections to the idea are addressed. But he has added a layer of SF to it involving telepathy and even tied it, however loosely, to his own universes by mentioning positronic brains and laying the ground---again loosely, very loosely---for what would become the Foundation.
It is, unfortunately, something that one should read at a younger time of life. Asimov was possibly the best of the Golden Age writers, but he was overly-taken with exposition and his style, while not terrible, is not that of a thriller writer.
Many of Asimov's original objections to the idea are addressed. But he has added a layer of SF to it involving telepathy and even tied it, however loosely, to his own universes by mentioning positronic brains and laying the ground---again loosely, very loosely---for what would become the Foundation.
It is, unfortunately, something that one should read at a younger time of life. Asimov was possibly the best of the Golden Age writers, but he was overly-taken with exposition and his style, while not terrible, is not that of a thriller writer.
April 4, 2020
I've always liked Isaac Asimov for his cerebral science fiction. He hardly ever has roaring space battles, or bug-eyed aliens, but his futuristic books and long discussions always made my imagination soar! This book is NOT a sequel to the 1966 Fantastic Voyage movie (Of which he wrote the novel tie-in), but rather it is the same premise as the original, but a purely Asimov flavour!
The long and short of it is that it is the mid-to late 21st century, and as Asimov wrote this book in the late '80s, the Soviet Union is still a thing, but the cold war is over. Morrison, and American scientist (and the protagonist of the book) is kidnapped by Soviets (with the tacit approval of the US government and persuaded to join a super secret Russian scientist group in being miniaturized into the body of a dying Soviet scientist who is in a coma. This scientist possibly holds the key to cheap miniaturization, and faster than speed of light travel (I still don't understand the connection of those two, but, I'll just go with it). I won't give things away, but along the way, mind reading (a favourite subject of Asimov's) comes up as does interplay of personalities.
I own the novel, but I haven't read it since high school (almost 30 years ago). I was happy to read it again
The long and short of it is that it is the mid-to late 21st century, and as Asimov wrote this book in the late '80s, the Soviet Union is still a thing, but the cold war is over. Morrison, and American scientist (and the protagonist of the book) is kidnapped by Soviets (with the tacit approval of the US government and persuaded to join a super secret Russian scientist group in being miniaturized into the body of a dying Soviet scientist who is in a coma. This scientist possibly holds the key to cheap miniaturization, and faster than speed of light travel (I still don't understand the connection of those two, but, I'll just go with it). I won't give things away, but along the way, mind reading (a favourite subject of Asimov's) comes up as does interplay of personalities.
I own the novel, but I haven't read it since high school (almost 30 years ago). I was happy to read it again
May 24, 2016
Romanzo gradevole, con tutti i pregi e tutti i difetti di Asimov.
Tra i pregi sicuramente c'è la trama, molto più solida e convincente rispetto al predecessore. Personaggi stavolta ben costruiti, con psicologie meno "tagliate con l'accetta".
Tra i difetti, la solita "straripanza scientifica": nella parte centrale del romanzo, quella del "viaggio fantastico" all'interno del corpo umano, il buon Dottore si dilunga spesso e volentieri in spiegazioni fisiche e biologiche, per giustificare questo o quell'aspetto della trama e per dare un senso compiuto ad ogni singola mossa dei personaggi e della loro nave. Questo aspetto, secondo me, alla lunga stanca il lettore, lo annoia. Va bene cercare il realismo massimo e l'aderenza alla realtà, ma Asimov si lascia prendere la mano.
Le parti più scorrevoli infatti, sono l'inizio e la fine, quelle guarda caso che fanno da contorno al viaggio vero e proprio.
Romanzo comunque discreto, che rende onore ad una bella idea di base, cosa che non faceva il suo predecessore.
Tra i pregi sicuramente c'è la trama, molto più solida e convincente rispetto al predecessore. Personaggi stavolta ben costruiti, con psicologie meno "tagliate con l'accetta".
Tra i difetti, la solita "straripanza scientifica": nella parte centrale del romanzo, quella del "viaggio fantastico" all'interno del corpo umano, il buon Dottore si dilunga spesso e volentieri in spiegazioni fisiche e biologiche, per giustificare questo o quell'aspetto della trama e per dare un senso compiuto ad ogni singola mossa dei personaggi e della loro nave. Questo aspetto, secondo me, alla lunga stanca il lettore, lo annoia. Va bene cercare il realismo massimo e l'aderenza alla realtà, ma Asimov si lascia prendere la mano.
Le parti più scorrevoli infatti, sono l'inizio e la fine, quelle guarda caso che fanno da contorno al viaggio vero e proprio.
Romanzo comunque discreto, che rende onore ad una bella idea di base, cosa che non faceva il suo predecessore.
August 4, 2015
I know Asimov hated his novelization of the original Fantastic Voyage movie, given the constraints put on him by the studio, but this near-incoherent mess is much, much worse.
The original book at least attempted to make right a few of the plot holes of the movie. This re-imagining of the whole story is disappointing; it's one thing to make sure your science fiction is believable, but when you almost have nothing but scientific exposition to move the story, there's not much fiction to be had. Adding that together with characters that are complete cardboard stereotypes and an archaic Cold War plotline (even from the time it was written) makes for an extremely dull read.
Asimov is supposed to be so much better than this. And considering how cool the original movie was, this was a major disappointment.
The original book at least attempted to make right a few of the plot holes of the movie. This re-imagining of the whole story is disappointing; it's one thing to make sure your science fiction is believable, but when you almost have nothing but scientific exposition to move the story, there's not much fiction to be had. Adding that together with characters that are complete cardboard stereotypes and an archaic Cold War plotline (even from the time it was written) makes for an extremely dull read.
Asimov is supposed to be so much better than this. And considering how cool the original movie was, this was a major disappointment.
January 7, 2021
Ridotti alle dimensioni di batteri insieme alla loro navicella, un pugno di uomini e un'intrigante ragazza compiono un viaggio di scoperta. Lo scenario delle loro affascinanti e pericolose esplorazioni però non è il cosmo, ma il corpo umano. La loro incredibile missione, infatti, è quella di viaggiare all'interno del sistema circolatorio di uno scienziato per raggiungere e distruggere l'embolo cerebrale che sta per ucciderlo. Alle insidie che incontrano si aggiungono discordie e tradimenti. Ma il viaggio deve continuare, la sfida all'impossibile deve essere vinta. Perché in gioco c'è la vita di un genio i cui studi hanno portato a risultati straordinari, per quanto ancora sconosciuti. Tra realtà e fantasia, una narrazione spiritosa e intrigante, dai ritmi serrati, che pure non rinuncia all'alto contenuto scientifico. Una vera prova di virtuosismo del maestro assoluto della fantascienza.
January 22, 2014
Come nel famoso Viaggio Allucinante, il romanzo e il film che descrivono il viaggio di un sottomarino miniaturizzato all'interno del corpo umano, anche questo inatteso seguito di Isaac Asimov ci porta di fronte a un problema quasi impossibile non solo per la fisica, ma anche per la biologia. Viaggiare nell'infinitamente piccolo che costituisce l'organismo dell'uomo e avvicinarsi addirittura al suo cervello sembra un'impresa assurda: ma Asimov vi si è cimentato ancora una volta con un gusto del paradosso e dell'avventura che sono degni di lui. Non per nulla è stato professore di biochimica in una facoltà di medicina e non per nulla ha deciso di abbandonare quella professione per mettersi a scrivere avventure emozionanti come quella di Destinazione cervello.
March 4, 2018
This is Isaac Asimov's personal re-boot of "Fantastic Voyage" -- his attempt to make a more scientifically accurate story, at his own pace. In that respect he succeeds, but he gets far too caught up in the science, and ignores the human adventure on more than a few occasions. He also has a tendency to stretch out the story, to the point where the reader wants to shout, Monty Python style, "GET ON WITH IT!" That said, he ability to create characters is superb, and when he does pay attention to the drama, it can be rather tense at times (including the surprising climax). Asimov's novelization of the film is definitely more exciting action-adventure, but this novel has cerebral charms all its own.
April 29, 2025
Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain is not a sequel to the 1960s Asimov Fantastic Voyage novelization of the 1960s movie. Asimov was not satisfied with the science and some other aspects of that story. So, in the late 1980s, he wrote his version of the basic idea: miniaturize humans in a miniaturized ship and send them on a voyage through a small part of the body, which because of their size would seem like an Odyssey of a voyage. Thus, this new version of the story retains nothing else from the original story, no characters, settings, or fundamental plot details. Similar scenes, such as the terrifying trip by one person outside the ship, are entirely reimagined.
The plot plays out as a kind of political thriller. Published in 1987, Fantastic Voyage II portrays a world 100 years in the future that is little changed from 1987. The US and the Soviet Union are not exactly at each others' throats any more, but still maintain a pointless and dangerous game of political and social oneupmanship that looks very much like it had been from the 1950s to the 1980s. Technologically as well as politically, the world of the 2080s is little different from the world of the 1980s. The Soviets kidnap an American scientist on the skids, Albert Morrison. He works in neurophysiology and has a largely discounted theory that there are nodes of thought within the brain. He also believes that he has discovered a pathway to limited telepathy, though he keeps that idea mostly to himself. The Soviets kidnap him, with American government approval, to take him to their miniaturization project. The Soviets want him because they are planning a journey of miniaturized humans into the brain of the comatose and dying master scientist Shapirov, and want Morrison to use his techniques to recover any scientific thoughts that might still be lurking in Shapirov's degenerating brain.
One purpose for all this is to make Fantastic Voyage close to a hard science brand of science fiction. The theoretical aspects of miniaturization are gone over in broad terms, with a semi-plausible explanation for its accomplishment provided, shrinking the Planck constant. There are some speculations about the relationship between the Planck constant and the speed of light. Much of the dialogue in the story is devoted to the general physics related to miniaturization. Asimov introduces a second bit of scientific speculation, the idea that brain waves contain information that can be in some way broadcast like radio waves, thus explaining telepathy. This point seems on shakier grounds scientifically, and so less is made of it in the scientific arguments that pass for dialogue, though more is made of it in the plot.
Some of the problems with the story, as far as I am concerned, are in the dialogue, plot, science, and characterization. The dialogue gets rather tedious as Morrison constantly goes back and forth with the Soviets about American science versus Soviet science, and about the politics of nationalized science programs and state secrets. The plot does not bear much scrutiny. Would the Soviets, or any government for that matter, spend the obviously huge amounts of money on an ill-conceived and mostly unscientific attempt to retrieve stray thoughts from a dying scientist no matter how much of a genius he might be, using unproved and discredited methods? The science in theoretical terms is fine, consonant with the science fiction theme of taking an idea on the edge of possibility and seeing what one can do with it. The "experiment" itself, though, is almost entirely unscientific. There are no controls, no real recording devices or measuring devices, and the claim that telepathy might be happening rests entirely upon a person's say-so. The characters are rather one-dimensional and get tiresome in that they offer no surprises for the reader. Morrison is a cowardly dweeb, whining and whimpering when he's not fainting or complaining. Boranova is overbearing and manipulative, Donev is selfish and arrogant, Kaliinin is devious and romantic, and Dezhnev can't go for five words without invoking some "saying" by his father. 300 pages of this just gets on my nerves.
One redeeming aspect of the novel is that Asimov has reserved a twist in the plot. The real purpose of the story is not to justify the ideas of miniaturization and telepathy. The real purpose is to solve the Cold War, which in 1987 was still a very real thing, though only five years away from vanishing. The real intention had been in the dialogue all along. All the back and forth about Soviet and American science and government intentions and so on, which seemed just there because the kidnapping of an American scientist made it seem necessary to be there, was the main point. Spoiler here, so if you don't want to know, skip here. The twist is that Morrison discovers that he was right, but not in the way he thought he was. He also realizes that the competing fields of science, miniaturization for the Soviets and telepathy for the Americans, will each require the other. Thus, practicality of perfecting the sciences will render moot the competitiveness of keeping scientific advancement a state secret. The two countries must cooperate; therefore, Cold War over. This twist makes relevant all that political bickering that for the duration of the novel felt to me overdone and irrelevant. It reveals, though, that Asimov, at least in this novel, was ludicrously politically naïve.
In the end, then, a mixed review for Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain. It makes for a good artifact of the late Cold War. As far as reading enjoyment goes, it's up and down.
The plot plays out as a kind of political thriller. Published in 1987, Fantastic Voyage II portrays a world 100 years in the future that is little changed from 1987. The US and the Soviet Union are not exactly at each others' throats any more, but still maintain a pointless and dangerous game of political and social oneupmanship that looks very much like it had been from the 1950s to the 1980s. Technologically as well as politically, the world of the 2080s is little different from the world of the 1980s. The Soviets kidnap an American scientist on the skids, Albert Morrison. He works in neurophysiology and has a largely discounted theory that there are nodes of thought within the brain. He also believes that he has discovered a pathway to limited telepathy, though he keeps that idea mostly to himself. The Soviets kidnap him, with American government approval, to take him to their miniaturization project. The Soviets want him because they are planning a journey of miniaturized humans into the brain of the comatose and dying master scientist Shapirov, and want Morrison to use his techniques to recover any scientific thoughts that might still be lurking in Shapirov's degenerating brain.
One purpose for all this is to make Fantastic Voyage close to a hard science brand of science fiction. The theoretical aspects of miniaturization are gone over in broad terms, with a semi-plausible explanation for its accomplishment provided, shrinking the Planck constant. There are some speculations about the relationship between the Planck constant and the speed of light. Much of the dialogue in the story is devoted to the general physics related to miniaturization. Asimov introduces a second bit of scientific speculation, the idea that brain waves contain information that can be in some way broadcast like radio waves, thus explaining telepathy. This point seems on shakier grounds scientifically, and so less is made of it in the scientific arguments that pass for dialogue, though more is made of it in the plot.
Some of the problems with the story, as far as I am concerned, are in the dialogue, plot, science, and characterization. The dialogue gets rather tedious as Morrison constantly goes back and forth with the Soviets about American science versus Soviet science, and about the politics of nationalized science programs and state secrets. The plot does not bear much scrutiny. Would the Soviets, or any government for that matter, spend the obviously huge amounts of money on an ill-conceived and mostly unscientific attempt to retrieve stray thoughts from a dying scientist no matter how much of a genius he might be, using unproved and discredited methods? The science in theoretical terms is fine, consonant with the science fiction theme of taking an idea on the edge of possibility and seeing what one can do with it. The "experiment" itself, though, is almost entirely unscientific. There are no controls, no real recording devices or measuring devices, and the claim that telepathy might be happening rests entirely upon a person's say-so. The characters are rather one-dimensional and get tiresome in that they offer no surprises for the reader. Morrison is a cowardly dweeb, whining and whimpering when he's not fainting or complaining. Boranova is overbearing and manipulative, Donev is selfish and arrogant, Kaliinin is devious and romantic, and Dezhnev can't go for five words without invoking some "saying" by his father. 300 pages of this just gets on my nerves.
One redeeming aspect of the novel is that Asimov has reserved a twist in the plot. The real purpose of the story is not to justify the ideas of miniaturization and telepathy. The real purpose is to solve the Cold War, which in 1987 was still a very real thing, though only five years away from vanishing. The real intention had been in the dialogue all along. All the back and forth about Soviet and American science and government intentions and so on, which seemed just there because the kidnapping of an American scientist made it seem necessary to be there, was the main point. Spoiler here, so if you don't want to know, skip here. The twist is that Morrison discovers that he was right, but not in the way he thought he was. He also realizes that the competing fields of science, miniaturization for the Soviets and telepathy for the Americans, will each require the other. Thus, practicality of perfecting the sciences will render moot the competitiveness of keeping scientific advancement a state secret. The two countries must cooperate; therefore, Cold War over. This twist makes relevant all that political bickering that for the duration of the novel felt to me overdone and irrelevant. It reveals, though, that Asimov, at least in this novel, was ludicrously politically naïve.
In the end, then, a mixed review for Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain. It makes for a good artifact of the late Cold War. As far as reading enjoyment goes, it's up and down.
September 13, 2012
Insoddisfatto del risultato ottenuto con "Viaggio Allucinante" (basato sulla sceneggiatura dell'omonimo libro), Asimov decise di scrivere un nuovo romanzo partendo dagli stessi presupposti: la miniaturizzazione di un equipaggio in missione all'interno del corpo umano.Un'ipotesi affascinante per un romanzo sicuramente secondario.
Currently reading
April 13, 2010My first book by Asimov. I will probably read more
January 15, 2020
characters--, plot-, description+, twist+
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