Quote:
Originally Posted by Jean
I am ashamed to admit that I could not read more than 80 pages of this academic book, and I subsequently selected the pages relevant to the keris only... Am I the only one?
Regards
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Well, i have read it twice and skimmed many sections since.
As Alan has pointed out, the none keris sections may be as important to understanding the keris in a Balinese context as the more specific keris sections are. As has been pointed out many times in these pages, you simply cannot understand keris in a vacuum. Getting a grasp of the cultural and historical context in which the keris flourished is most important.
While i did not quite find the book as easy to read as Alan i also didn't find it to be too academic in nature. Some of it is indeed quite dense though and i can certainly understand how it can be considered difficult reading, especially if English is a second language. Unfortunately the history itself is dense and complicated, so i'm not sure there is any better way to present it. I would suggest giving it another go if you can stand it. I honestly think it is one of the most important books out there for understanding the keris in Bali.