This text of over 500 pages is unusual in two ways, firstly that it focuses solely on tropical soils found in Indonesia, and secondly it is produced in a large typeface, and probably results in a book some 150 pages longer than might be expected. Whilst unusual to focus on a single country, Indonesia has a wide range of environments, including soils developed on volcanic materials. The first four chapters provide in turn, a historical context to soil science in Indonesia, descriptions of the geomorphology, climate and vegetation. The fifth chapter on soil classification sets the scene for much of the later discussion, by stressing the author's dissatisfaction with many aspects of the US soil taxonomy. There are strong points made in this section, particularly over the omission of terms and properties which the author considers assist in more precisely describing and differentiating soils from tropical regions. The remaining four chapters, contributing the bulk of the text, describe the soils in three regions of Indonesia, lowlands, uplands and mountains, with a final chapter on soils derived from volcanic materials, Surprisingly, given the discussion in Chapter 5, the framework used for soil description is soil taxonomy. These chapters contain useful information about the soils, but frequently the sources of data in tables and figures are not provided. The reference list includes over 300 citations but over 70% are to material published before 1970.

I found this a somewhat disappointing text, though there is a great deal of information, much of it from old sources.