It is good to see that at long last imaginative books are being written on otherwise dull subjects. As the name suggests, Kuriyan’s book is indeed a very good general survey of India. The purpose of this little book is to provide, in a consolidated manner, a comprehensive picture of India. It has a broad sweep, covering the physiography, climate, soils, natural vegetation, irrigation, agriculture, animal husbandry, power resources and development, industries, transport, population, and India’s ethnic and linguistic composition. The chief attraction of this book is that instead of making it a purely factual, and therefore dull, narrative the author has dealt with his subject-matter in a most readable manner. For anybody trying to get a broad picture of India, this book is ideal. It can also be used as a reliable reference book.
Foreigners will find it particularly useful, as will Indian students, who unfortunately seem to know as little about India as the foreigners. The get-up of the book is also very attractive and it contains sixteen maps and twenty plates, the latter perhaps not being of the finest quality.The maps are mainly economic in nature covering industrial, transport and agricultural sectors. All in all, the National Book Trust and George Kuriyan are to be congratulated for their fine effort.
