I am very sorry that you found it heavy going gentlemen, but neither you, Jean, nor you Marco are native English speakers, so to even get through part of a book written in a foreign language is very good going.
Personally, I do not regard this book as particularly academic, it was given to me by Garrett Solyom's wife, she knew the author, and when I got it, I read it in one sitting, since then I've read it again at least once, and I've been back to it numerous times. Unlike many serious books it is totally unpretentious and I think the text flows well.
IP, I assume you are a native English speaker, please forgive me if I am being presumptuous. It is difficult to really settle to reading anything when there are other things calling for our attention, maybe all you need is a bit of the upcoming winter. As Jean & Marco have commented, there is a distinct keris "section" in this book, but in my opinion there is at least as much value for somebody trying to come to terms with the keris in Bali, in the parts of the book that do not mention the keris.
The keris is only a blossom of the Balinese culture, but just as with other blossoms we need to understand the soil from which it has grown, if we wish to understand the flower.
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