Sipakatuo and Gustav, you have both expressed the opinion that a person who has knowledge should publish that knowledge.
If I were to accept your opinions as valid, I could consider that I am in a position where I do have a level of knowledge that could justify the publication of a book. However, I disagree completely this opinion.
I can mount a number of arguments against this opinion, but I'm not going to hijack this thread by running in a completely different direction, so I will limit my comments.
Firstly, there is the economic argument:-
producing a book, or any kind of writing is work, uses time; if we put time into writing, it must come from somewhere else, and if we need to use time to produce income, the time spent on writing reduces income; once the book has been written, it then needs to be published, and finding a publisher for anything other than a book that will return a profit on sales is a futile search.
In purely economic terms, the production of a book dealing with anything other than the most popularist aspects of the keris is a losing proposition.
It may be possible to defend the production of a book on the keris if that book deals with aspects of the keris that will attract a broad and not necessarily specialist readership, however, books of this nature have been done to the point of being overdone. They may return a dollar profit, but they do not return much profit in the form of knowledge.
Secondly there is the philosophical question of the morality of providing open access to all information in respect of the keris to anybody who can open a book.
I am of the opinion that all knowledge is not public property, and too much knowledge can in some instances be damaging to all concerned.
The level of knowledge to which one is entitled can be gauged by the questioning of the seeker after knowledge:- when the correct questions are asked, the correct knowledge will flow.
If this knowledge were to be given before the question were to be asked, the giving of the knowledge would be tantamount to the sowing of seeds in a barren field.
Thirdly, there is the motivation in production of a book.
I know of cases where a book has been produced for no other reason than to promote sales for the writer, and in the case of one very well known writer, deliberately incorrect, or inadequate information was provided in that book, in order to protect his own livilihood. When I pointed this out to the writer, his reply was:- "you don't need to tell the whole world everything; show them the door, but don't give them the key, they'll find the key themselves if they deserve to".
I know of other cases where a book has been written, sometimes with the backing of a wealthy benefactor, and for declared altruistic reasons, for the sole purpose of marketing a collection that was subsequently sold.
Then there are the cases, more than a few when we consider the keris, where a book, or books have been produced and privately published simply to feed the ego of the writer and to raise that writer's percieved level of expertise in the eyes of those who do not yet understand sufficient to differentiate between true knowledge and the appearance of knowledge.
If we desire knowledge, we should be prepared to seek that knowledge, not hope that it will be dropped into our laps when we open a book.
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