Why ionisation enthalpy of early lanthanides are expected to be greater than early actinides? In my book Chemistry Part I (NCERT XII), a statement on p. 232 goes like this:


  It is evident from the behaviour of the actinoids that the ionisation enthalpies of the early actinoids, though not accurately known, but are lower than for the early lanthanoids. This is quite reasonable since it is to be expected that when 5f orbitals are beginning to be occupied, they will penetrate less into the inner core of electrons. The 5f electrons, will therefore, be more effectively shielded from the nuclear charge than the 4f electrons of the corresponding lanthanoids. 


My thought on this matter is that $Z$ will increase and f-orbitals will shield electrons poorly and so ionisation enthalpy should increase. But I'm not able to understand what my book is trying to say. What is meant by less penetration to inner core of electrons? To be honest I wasn't able to understand all the above mentioned 3-4 lines. So, can anyone explain this properly to me, please?
This data is incorrct, and I am saying so because the Ionisation energy of the actinoid is a decent bit higher than the corresponding lanthanide

In each case IE 1 is significantly higher for lanthanoids, IE 2 is still higher for lanthanoids and IE 3 is comparable. 

$\ce{Ce}$ $534.4$, $1050$, $1949$

$\ce{Th}$ $587$, $1110$, $1930$

These were two examples where i showed all 3 IEs

For, the sake of further clarification, here is a the IE1 of the first few 

$\ce{Pr}$ $527$, $\ce{Pa}$ $568$

$\ce{Nd}$ $533.1$, $\ce{U}$ $597.1$

$\ce{Pm}$ $540$, $\ce{Np}$ $604.5$ 

$\ce{Sm}$ $544.5$, $\ce{Pu}$ $584.7$

(units used are $kJ/mol$)

The reason you stated in your doubt is absolutely correct, as even if we were to conclude at these aren't accurately determined, we see this phenomenon elsewhere in the periodic table also, where the values are accurately determined. 


$\ce{Sn}$ is the lowest IE element of GP 14 and not $\ce{Pb}$.
$\ce{Fr}$ has a higher IE than $\ce{Cs}$.
$\ce{Ra}$ has a higher IE than $\ce{Ba}$.


All due to the same reason poor shieling, which increases the effective nuclear charge, which increases nuclear attraction, which in turn leads to a higher IE.

References

Wikipedia data page