HAHA, you fool, you fell victim to one of the classic blunders - never get involved in a land acquisition in Asia! Jokes aside, this book goes into how large firms and governments interact in land acquisition. This is part of a larger theme this week of land-grabs and agricultural policy. It's a somewhat dry and academic tome but with important lessons.
Small landowners are most often that way because of their lack of education and systematisation. What I mean by that is the lack of integration into existing information and market networks, relying instead on their local community and relationships. There are elements out there that will ceaselessly take advantage of this fact.
Governments and large corporations will often use the lack of documentation that people have about their land to kick them off with little to no compensation. The book also puts forward policy recommendations for how this ought to be solved - a combination of digital registry and squatter's rights. It's a decent enough book, but not juicy enough for the subject matter.
5/10