This slim little book is not very useful except for absolute beginners. It really only skims the surface of this topic without going into any meaningful detail about the artists or their context(s). I would recommend either The Rough Guide to World Music or The Musichound Guide to World Music instead. Both go much deeper than a mere list of albums to buy. Overall, this seems like the work of an enthusiast who took a walk through a record store than serious scholarly writing by a professional.

This is a rather slim book which covers some 150 artists in brief 1 and 2 page reviews. For someone who knows little of world music, this would be a good place to start, though a true music lover might be annoyed at the lack of scope-- he only lists a few albums by each artist, for example, and there are probably many artists he omits (no entry for Yma Sumac?).

Hands down, this is one of the worst books on "World Music" that I've ever come across. It's superficial, shallow and reveals a serious bias towards the American consumerist mentality. By focusing on the "best" CDs by certain artists, the author only focuses on what's available in CD form and often misses key recordings in many of the genres that he attempts to cover. Even the coverage of his selected CDs lacks depth and is perfuctory at best - it reads more like a slick attempt to cash in on the World Music boom than anything else. "The Rough Guide to World Music" is a far superior and authoritative World Music Text. This one is an embarassment.

This is a handy guide, but it has its limitations if you want to go deeply into any one category. For example, with Brazilian music you should also purchase the book "The Brazilian Sound," with its 1,000-CD discography of Brazilian albums.

How can anyone give an inclusive and insightful overview of world music? Well, this book comes close. Information is easy to access, a pleasure to read, and I appreciated the effort to suggest works by other artists similar to the one being reviewed. He leaves out one of my favorite groups, Mouth Music, but he more than makes up for it by introducing me to many new artists that I am dying to sample. I also checked out his reviews of works I already own, and found by and large I could agree with his comments. I highly recommend this book.