Moro weapons are not my main area of interest, but they are intriguing and important enough to have a general understanding of them in the "mental database". This was splendidly accomplished by Cato. Inevitably, when more smart and educated people started digging, new facts were uncovered, and the topic became progressively more complex and richly textured.
The chapter on Philippine weapons in the Macao Museum was the next step, but space limitations were severe. Still, I learned more.
I think it is high time for a truly knowledgeable person to sit down and write "The Ultimate Book". I would buy it in a jiffy. The only problem is that such a book will remain " ultimate" for a limited period of time only , and will inevitably become yet another outdated volume :-)
Such is the fate of any and every research book.
Cato was just a very good start, analogous to " See Dick run". Not an Elgood-type treatise, for sure. But without it I, for one, would have never been able to acquire the vocabulary and to learn the alphabet to be able to read and understand more sophisticated arguments on the topic. And for that alone, Cato has my hat tipped off to him.
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