Yestermorrow

More fizz than tonic, Bradbury's exuberant essays are intended to evoke a sense of wonder, of humanity's limitless possibilities. Intellectually lazy pieces include panegyrics to Federico Fellini and to science fiction (``the most important fiction ever invented by writers'') and a blueprint for a ``People Machine''--sort of an enticing, humanized shopping mall ``to make the small town work again.'' In a starry-eyed style that borders on self-parody, Bradbury ( The Martian Chronicles ) spins boyish fantasies about time travel and the holographic theater of the future. His dabblings in art and literary criticism elicit purple prose (``Van Gogh owns all the sunflowers that ever sprouted from seed and ran their juices to turn their clock faces to follow noon''). Elsewhere he crows about his epistolary relationship with a fan, Bernard Berenson, and recalls his acquaintance with Walt Disney. This collection is strictly for hardcore Bradbury enthusiasts (Feb.)