Not a sequel to the original Fantastic Voyage (a 1966 movie novelization), which Asimov chooses to ignore completely; the upshot isn't too much more than a sclerotically talky retread. In the 21st century, the superpowers coexist peacefully—so why do the Russians choose to kidnap frustrated brain researcher Albert Morrison (no one believes his advanced theories)? Well, genius scientist Shapirov, the inventor of miniaturization, lies in a coma, the victim of an experimental accident; the Russians need Morrison's expertise in order to tap the thoughts of the dying Shapirov (he was on the point of a dramatic breakthrough). The problem is that Morrison doesn't believe in miniaturization and, indeed, is terrified at the prospect. Still, after some judicious blackmail, he agrees to enter a specially-built submarine, along with its stereotyped crew, hearty Dezhnev, manipulative Boranova, Finno-Russian Kaliinin, and obsessive Konev: they will be shrunk to molecular size and injected into Shapirov's comatose brain. After various adventures—unsurprising stuff to fans of the first Voyage—they reemerge, the mission apparently a failure and Shapirov dead, with a mildly surprising twist ending still to come. Like much of Asimov's recent output: a novel-sized conversation, scientifically more credible than FVI but just as tepid plot-and-drama-wise. It slips down easily enough but leaves no lingering impression.
Asimov was born sometime between October 4, 1919 and January 2, 1920 in Petrovichi in Smolensk Oblast, RSFSR (now Russia), the son of a Jewish family of millers. Although his exact date of birth is uncertain, Asimov himself celebrated it on January 2. His family emigrated to Brooklyn, New York and opened a candy store when he was three years old. He taught himself to read at the age of five. He began reading the science fiction pulp magazines that his family's store carried. Around the age of eleven, he began to write his own stories, and by age nineteen, he was selling them to the science fiction magazines. He graduated from Columbia University in 1939. He married Gertrude Blugerman in 1942. During World War II he worked as a civilian at the Philadelphia Navy Yard's Naval Air Experimental Station. After the war, he returned to Columbia University and earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1948. He then joined the faculty of the Boston University School of Medicine until 1958, when he became a full-time writer. His first novel, [Pebble in the Sky](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL46402W), was published in 1950. He and his wife divorced in 1973, and he married Janet O. Jeppson the same year. He was a highly prolific writer, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 9,000 letters and postcards.
