SPACE ODYSSEYS: A New Look at Yesterday's Futures

A nice sf collection pegged on the eminently forgettable theme of the voyage. There are some vintage space-opera selections: a couple of Doc Smith ""Lensman"" snippets, Ross Rocklynne's ""Empress of Mars,"" Poul Anderson's slick, well-designed ""Star Ship,"" an excellent if purple-shaded Leigh Brackett. Other classics include Clarke's 2001 prototype ""The Sentinel,"" some neat Asimovian change-ringing on the laws of robotics, and one of Frank Belknap Long's best stories--a variation on the ever-fruitful theme of seeing ourselves as aliens see us. An agreeable reminder that the anthologizer's umpteen-thousandth excavation into the Golden Age can still turn up pay dirt.