In “Reading North Korea: A Korea Watcher’s In-depth Commentary,” author Isozaki Atsuhito makes a compelling case that the best clues to Pyongyang’s thinking often lie in plain sight.

Isozaki, a professor at Japan’s prestigious Keio University, has emerged in recent years as a prodigious producer of insightful works on the DPRK. In addition to editing “Dissecting North Korea,” he has co-authored the popular “Introduction to North Korea” and written his own impressively detailed “Tourism in North Korea.”