Haldeman is the author of 20 novels and five collections. The Forever War won the Nebula, Hugo and Ditmar Awards for best science fiction novel in 1975. Other notable titles include Camouflage, The Accidental Time Machine and Marsbound as well as the short works "Graves," "Tricentennial" and "The Hemingway Hoax." Starbound is scheduled for a January release. SFWA president Russell Davis called Haldeman "an extraordinarily talented writer, a respected teacher and mentor in our community, and a good friend."
Haldeman officially received the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master for 2010 by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America at the Nebula Awards Weekend in May, 2010 in Hollywood, Fla.
A collection of short-stories, essays, and poems (and some personal photos). Given that grab-bag, this is definitely a book for avowed Haldeman fans.
As to myself, I haven't yet read that much of the Haldeman corpus really to call myself a fan. I found The Forever War to be top-notch, but other than some other short-stories, I haven't yet much of anything else he's written.
Like most collections, this particular book is a mixed bag. I like a couple of the stories, and though they were dated, most of the essays (I think I liked the essays more than the stories). Of the poems, I found one engaging, the remainder pretty poor.
I believe I found the essays especially enlightening because of their autobiographical nature. I have heard it said that so much of Haldeman's fiction is informed by his Vietnam experience, and the essays gave some insight into that. Also, I found his opinionated history of the NASA and the US space program interesting.
For most readers, I'd say get more of Haldeman's other works read first before picking up this one.
Haldeman's Forever War is a must read. I did not know until reading this collection of stories, essays, and other writing that Haldeman also excels at the short form. Gardner Dozois selected one of Haldeman's stories, not featured in this volume, for his annual Year's Best Science Fiction--Sleeping Dogs (2011). After reading Vietnam and ... I went on to read A Separate War and Other Stories. Short stories are incredibly satisfying.