South East Asia : a guide to reference material /

An intriguing and curious volume. Since this series, according to Dalby, excludes bibliographies, he cites them and many other valuable resources only in the introduction; entries in the body of the guide therefore begin with number 30. Periodical and newspaper indexes are also excluded. The 853 entries are arranged by broad subject (General and National Surveys; Biography; Historical Materials; Topography; Flora, Fauna, and Natural Resources; Languages and People) with some country and other subdivisions. Glaring in their absence are the arts, economics, government and politics, and communications. The entries have descriptive annotations and often cite related works, many of equal or greater interest than the entry. Dalby claims he includes books that "contain facts rather than opinions," a dubious criterion he does not always observe. The book suffers from British myopia (only British official histories of WW II are cited, and readers are referred to South East Asia Library Group Newsletter but not the American CORMOSEA Bulletin). But the book is made noteworthy by its inclusion of a remarkable number of titles published before 1950 and likely to be found in few libraries in the world. These are important works, at least historically, but scarcely serve the intention to "help researchers, librarians and others find information quickly." The book deserves a place in reference collections, but not for the reasons it professes. K. Mulliner; Ohio University