This book may or may not be the best guidebook of Laos. I did find it much less useful for navigating Laos than the Let's Go: Thailand book was for Thailand.
The biggest problem with the book is its organization within the major cities. Often, you'll read through the section on your city, then, later, remember something you wanted to do or see - only to be unable to find it, ultimately finding it tucked away in some other odd section of the book. It often has the feel of being written off-the-top of someone's head, without a lot of subsequent reorganization or editing.
Also, the provided historical information is often limited or outright false in a fairly significant way. For example, in reviewing the history of the Hmong in Laos, the book mentions that reports of the communists using chemical weapons against the pro-US Hmong (after the US pulled out of SE Asia at the end of the Vietnam War) has been proven to be false, that the "yellow rain" was actually from overpassing swarms of bees. While this explanation has been forwarded by the Laotian government, it is a laughable explanation that has been refuted by any sort of serious inquiry. The Hmong certainly were systematically repressed (and killed) at the end of the Vietnam War by the new communist government. This book makes it sound like this did not happen and that it was all a big misunderstanding. Granted, perhaps one should watch what they walk into Laos with. However, it would have been better to say nothing than to spread such misinformation.
