What's on your bookshelf?

David · 22nd September 2015, 06:56 PM

One thing to absolutely keep in mind Harry is that almost none of these books on keris can be 100% accurate all the time. I believe "The World of the Javanese Keris" by Garrett and Bronwen Solyom is perhaps one of the most accurate of all these books, though it does deal with only a small area of the keris world. You will also encounter a great deal of conflicting information from book to book, especially when dealing with names of pamor patterns and dhapurs and such. Names change from region to region, so this info is not necessary wrong, just different. Names also change over time periods sometimes.
You will also find that certain books merely repeat old myths and legends that don't necessarily hold water (though may have some cultural value).
In the words, all reading on things keris are best taken with a few grains of salt.

22nd September 2015, 06:56 PM	#6
David Keris forum moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 7,103	One thing to absolutely keep in mind Harry is that almost none of these books on keris can be 100% accurate all the time. I believe "The World of the Javanese Keris" by Garrett and Bronwen Solyom is perhaps one of the most accurate of all these books, though it does deal with only a small area of the keris world. You will also encounter a great deal of conflicting information from book to book, especially when dealing with names of pamor patterns and dhapurs and such. Names change from region to region, so this info is not necessary wrong, just different. Names also change over time periods sometimes. You will also find that certain books merely repeat old myths and legends that don't necessarily hold water (though may have some cultural value). In the words, all reading on things keris are best taken with a few grains of salt.