RINGS AROUND TOMORROW

Uplift on a number of worthy matters by dear, dull Hugh Downs, who, with no Jack Paar on hand to puncture his tendency to unrelieved pomposity, runs drearily on and on. Earnestly out for the ""Grand View,"" Downs discourses on the necessity to wed pure science to the humanities; he offers a view of the life force as propelling the universe (via Teilhard de Chardin), and he presents a Downsian theory called ""evaporation of the universe."" There are ruminations concerning astronomy subjective perceptions, pollution, etc., and more mundane matters like gun shootin' and -- noses. Goodness knows, Mr. Downs' forays into lay science and philosophy arise from the worthiest of intentions, and he is such a Nice Man. But he lacks the ability to whoop and holler and fling around ellipses and exclamation marks, a skill which distinguishes the breathless work of Mr. Isaac Asimov, another more agile Grand Viewer who wrote a generous introduction.