This book was slightly interesting for the glimpse it gave into the King’s life. However, it never really moves beyond being a glimpse. There is little to no insight into the King’s actions other than glowing flowery praise.

Because of lese majeste laws and the author’s former occupation, criticism would have been unthinkable, but any kind of analysis would have been nice, other than the dry reporting of the King’s activities for a decade.

The title is deceiving too, as this is not a personal memoir. There is relatively little self-reflection and the subject of the author’s personal life that does not directly relate to the monarchy and his work is barely touched upon. For example, he mentions having a wife and family for possibly the first time in the entire book about 3/4 of the way through!

Also, for those unfamiliar with Thai people’s attitudes towards their king, the language and extravagant praise used to describe him in this book may seem unusual. Even as a Thai-American I found it a little much at times, bordering on propaganda.

One last note, the editing in this book was atrocious. I can’t comment on the quality of the translation as far as how accurately it reflected the original Thai, but there were far too many errors—mainly in grammar, but there were also a few mistakes that could have been fixed with some fact-checking. It got to the point where it was distracting while I was reading it. It’s inexcusable and makes the book look shoddy and half-assed.

This is a pretty interesting read for those interested in Japanese culture, especially baths. I expected it to be a little more personal and more memoir-style, I guess. The subject matter is all over the place, as the author touches on how the baths have affected and been affected by Japanese culture throughout the ages. Although I did find it interesting, it dragged at times for me.