Laos (Countries Of The World), by A. Kamala Dalal

If the National Geographic has never been all that good at geography (and even worse once purchased by Disney), they have always been pretty good at photography, and that makes this book at least passable. It does bear mentioning, though, that this book would be a lot better if it answered the questions it poses at the end of the book instead of leaving them for the (presumably young) readers to research on their own. It is supposed to be the point of this book to give useful information about Laos, and the fact that the author chooses to leave unsaid–but asking the reader to do the work instead–the following information: the meaning of Laos’ flag colors and symbol, national anthem, currency, and weather–suggests a high degree of laziness on a part of the author and publisher. The author appears to be seeking to promote the use of the web in research, but in a book like this, it is simply not necessary if the author is doing his or her job, which is sadly not the case here.

That is not to say that this book is all bad, though. There are a lot of positive aspects about this book, and Laos is itself a nation that is both deeply curious and also very obscure, and so it is one where even a superficial and lazily written guide like this one can provide some useful value to the reader, even if not as much as could be the case in more diligent and competent hands. `The book is full of gorgeous photos of beautiful and rugged countryside, peasants picking mountain rice, red pandas, fishing boats on the Mekong, and reclining Buddhas and golden wats. This is both precisely what one would expect if one knows anything about Laos and its population, history, and culture, but also the sort of thing that one wants to see to encourage one in one’s own travels or general search for knowledge about the world. If this book’s text is not as extensive as one would like, the photography is on point, and that is enough on its own to make this book worth reading. Another thing to praise about this book is that it has a very detailed table of contents, something that is a bit unrecognized when it comes to the quality of a book. This book’s contents are certainly on the simple side, but a reader has an awareness of them from the beginning, and that counts for a lot.

In terms of those contents, this book is 64 pages long (a pretty common number for books of this kind), and is divided into five unnumbered chapters as well as other information. The book begins with a foreword. This is followed by a chapter on geography that begins with the Mekong as Laos’ river of plenty, with information about the weather, fast facts, average temperature and rainfall, and a physical map of the country, and special features. This is followed by a chapter on nature, with a look at Laos’ hidden forests, with a look at new arrivals, species at risk of extinction, and a map of vegetation and ecosystems, along with more special features. This is followed by a discussion of the somewhat brief history of Laos, with a discussion of the first Lao, a timeline, and a historical map, along with special features about how Laos was created and mysteries about its history. The next chapter discusses people and culture, with a look at the “simple life” of the nation’s people, looking at urban and rural populations, common phrases in Lao, and a population map, as well as national holidays and kataw (otherwise called takraw), a popular sport in the region. The last chapter of the book discusses government & the economy, which discusses Laos’ isolation from the rest of the world as a rare Communist country, looking at its trading partners and political map, as well as having special features about how the Laotian government works and industry. The book end with a discussion of additional information that can be added to one’s nation report, a glossary, bibliography and further information, index, and credits.