Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · 15th October 2011, 02:18 AM

I was there a few weeks back, and asked about the supposed English version, I had a bit of a yarn with several people there and all I got was that yes, there was an English version proposed. But that's what I was told more than 12 months ago.

I'd like to see an English version, but in all honesty it will be no great loss if it doesn't eventuate, because the greatness of this book is in the incredible photos. When the text is analysed its pretty empty, and in my opinion a bit of a lost opportunity --- lots of high sounding words, but very little substance. But the pics are great.

This could well be a sign of my advancing years, but I am really getting fed up with the re-hashes and poorly written text that is going into keris books lately. For years we had almost nothing in the way of keris books, but there has been a plethora of books on keris published in recent years. Regrettably its all re-hashes. No new research, no understanding, no brilliant flashes of insight. Just potboiling text to keep increasingly beautiful photos company.

There's more in print on keris now than ever there was, but does anybody know any more? I doubt it.

Like I said:- I've been around too long. Buy every book you find on keris --- maybe what you miss in one, you'll pick up on in the next.

15th October 2011, 02:18 AM	#7
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,700	I was there a few weeks back, and asked about the supposed English version, I had a bit of a yarn with several people there and all I got was that yes, there was an English version proposed. But that's what I was told more than 12 months ago. I'd like to see an English version, but in all honesty it will be no great loss if it doesn't eventuate, because the greatness of this book is in the incredible photos. When the text is analysed its pretty empty, and in my opinion a bit of a lost opportunity --- lots of high sounding words, but very little substance. But the pics are great. This could well be a sign of my advancing years, but I am really getting fed up with the re-hashes and poorly written text that is going into keris books lately. For years we had almost nothing in the way of keris books, but there has been a plethora of books on keris published in recent years. Regrettably its all re-hashes. No new research, no understanding, no brilliant flashes of insight. Just potboiling text to keep increasingly beautiful photos company. There's more in print on keris now than ever there was, but does anybody know any more? I doubt it. Like I said:- I've been around too long. Buy every book you find on keris --- maybe what you miss in one, you'll pick up on in the next.