View and plane/section of neural tube
It looks like a dorsal view to me, like your book says.
It isn't a section at all, these are embryonic structures visible from the outside.
Maybe you are being misled by the orientation of the neuraxis differing among organisms? The head will develop at the anterior neuropore; the spine will develop down the middle. You are looking at what will be the back.
Here's another view from Gray's (downloaded from Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somite#/media/File:Gray20.png ):