FAREWELL TO YESTERDAY'S TOMORROW

Panshin is one of the new generation who take sf seriously as an art form and a window on the human predicament and never tire of telling you so. Best of this collection: a longish half-memoir about an idea that wouldn't quite jell into a story, a couple of spring days in Elephant, Pa., and the lemming-rush of 20th century civilization (angrily spelled out in the story itself). Most of the good ones are short--wittily sketched ideas rather than explorations. Panshin writes with verve but also a generous measure of self-importance.