he most-informative stories ever written by the Thai author in English Since its inception in 1994, this book has proven to be very popular among Thai and foreign readers as a reliable source of information, in both Thai and English, about Thailand. People of various occupations have asked to use it as a reference or to reprint some of its essays. Initially, the book contained only 40 essays, but I kept adding to that number in each reprint. So, becoming constantly bigger, it became difficult for me to arrange the contents under appropriate headings. This, however, does not make the book less valuable. That is the reason why it has survived for more than a decade.In this edition, I have revised the whole book in order to keep the information up to date and relevant to the current needs of the readers at large. At the same time, I have added two more essays, which are equally useful to readers. I would like to express my deep thanks, especially for this edition, to several websites for the use of their beautiful pictures. I have to apologize for failing to seek their individual permission. I own the pictures but they are not as beautiful as theirs.