Continental Drift

If you think you know a continent when you see one, think again. Asia's ambiguous geographical and cultural divisions are immediately apparent in the index of The Asia Book—the latest pictorial tome from Lonely Planet. Transcontinental nations like Turkey and Russia (whose eastern extremities stretch to the same longitudes as Japan) are seen as European in orientation, but places like Israel and Syria, which shares a border with Turkey, somehow make the cut. So do 41 other countries, grouped into five regions: Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent and Himalayas, and the Middle East.

Like its predecessors The Cities Book and The Travel Book, this volume is stuffed with photographs—perhaps overly so. Images fight for attention on some layouts. There are also occasional lapses into Orientalist cliché—think saffron-robed monks, misty sunrises and cute, ethnically garbed children. But you'll find enough quality to keep the pages turning. The wealth of quirky factoids also helps: Bhutan, for instance, has a "Gross National Happiness" indicator, and did you know that a German minority (numbering 15,000 souls) can be found in Kyrgyzstan? Don't look for any depth here—the scope of the book means that it's impossible to devote more than a few pages to each country—but as a springboard to a continent it does the job. Expect it to spur many a nascent travel plan into action.