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Recommendations based on Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cookingby Michael Ruhlman
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
I'm Just Here for the Food: Food + Heat = Cooking
by Alton Brown
A humorous and informative guide to cooking, focusing on the science behind heat and its effects on food.
Alton Brown explores the science behind breads, cakes, cookies, pies, and custards, explaining it in his own inimitable style. Recipes cover all the basics, from pie crust to funnel cake to cheese ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
by Michael Pollan
Exploration of the modern food chain, examining the impact of food choices on our health and the environment.
What should we have for dinner? The question has confronted us since man discovered fire, but according to Michael Pollan, the bestselling author of The Botany of Desire , how we answer it today, at ... (Goodreads)
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
by Harold McGee
A comprehensive guide to the science and history of cooking, exploring the fascinating world of food and flavors.
Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking is a kitchen classic. Hailed by Time magazine as "a minor masterpiece" when it first appeared in 1984, On Food and Cooking is the bible to which food lovers and ... (Goodreads)
Mastering the Art of French Cooking
by Julia Child
Step-by-step guide to creating French cuisine, with accessible instructions and helpful tips.
For over fifty years, New York Times bestseller Mastering the Art of French Cooking has been the definitive book on the subject for American readers. Featuring 524 delicious recipes, in its pages ... (Goodreads)
Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany
by Bill Buford
A culinary journey of personal & professional growth, from apprentice to master.
The book that helped define a genre: Heat is a beloved culinary classic, an adventure in the kitchen and into Italian cuisine, by Bill Buford, author of Dirt . Bill Buford was a highly acclaimed ... (Barnes & Noble)
Just Kids
by Patti Smith
Chronicles of two young artists in New York City, finding friendship and inspiration in each other.
In Just Kids , Patti Smith's first book of prose, the legendary American artist offers a never-before-seen glimpse of her remarkable relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the epochal ... (Goodreads)
The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs
by Karen Page
A comprehensive guide to culinary creativity, offering combination ideas and flavor pairings.
Winner of the 2009 James Beard Book Award for Best Book: Reference and Scholarship Great cooking goes beyond following a recipe–it's knowing how to season ingredients to coax the greatest possible ... (Goodreads)
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
by Michael Pollan
Argument for a return to traditional diets and away from processed, industrialized food.
Michael Pollan's last book, The Omnivore's Dilemma , launched a national conversation about the American way of eating; now In Defense of Food shows us how to change it, one meal at a time. Pollan ... (Goodreads)
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
by Mary Roach
An exploration of the strange and often unknown history of cadavers, and their uses in science and medicine.
Okay, you're thinking: ,"This must be some kind of a joke. A humorous book about cadavers?", Yup — and it works. Mary Roach takes the age-old question, "What happens to us after we die?" quite ... (Goodreads)
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
by Amy Chua
A memoir of a Chinese-American mother's strict parenting style and the cultural clashes it creates with her daughters.
An awe-inspiring, often hilarious, and unerringly honest story of one mother's exercise in extreme parenting, revealing the rewards—and the costs—of raising her children the Chinese way. "This is a ... (Goodreads)
The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World
by Eric Weiner
A humorous exploration of the pursuit of happiness, through visits to different countries.
Weiner spent a decade as a foreign correspondent reporting from such discontented locales as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Indonesia. Unhappy people living in profoundly unstable states, he notes, inspire ... (Goodreads)
Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook
by Anthony Bourdain
A journey through the culinary world, exploring the chefs and cultures that inspire its cuisine.
A lot has changed since Kitchen Confidential. For the subculture of chefs and cooks, for the restaurant business as a whole—and for Anthony Bourdain. Medium Raw explores those changes, taking the ... (Goodreads)
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
by Christopher McDougall
A thrilling exploration of the Tarahumara tribe and their superhuman running abilities.
Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does ... (Goodreads)
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void
by Mary Roach
Exploring the science, technology and culture of human space travel.
The best-selling author of Stiff and Bonk explores the irresistibly strange universe of space travel and life without gravity. From the Space Shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA’s new ... (Goodreads)
Assassination Vacation
by Sarah Vowell
A comedic travelogue exploring the history of presidential assassinations in the United States.
Sarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrums of American history and culture with wit, probity, and an irreverent sense of humor. With Assassination Vacation, she takes us on a road trip like no ... (Goodreads)
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
by Bill Bryson
A humorous account of a man's attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail, reflecting on the beauty and history of the American wilderness.
The book starts with Bryson explaining his curiosity about the Appalachian Trail near his house. He and his old friend Stephen Katz start hiking the trail from Georgia in the South , and stumble in ... (Wikipedia)
The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
by Atul Gawande
A guide to better decision-making, exploring the power of checklists in various fields.
The, New York Times, bestselling author of, Better, and, Complications, reveals the surprising power of the ordinary checklist We live in a world of great and increasing complexity, where even the ... (Goodreads)
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
by David Grann
Exposé of a series of murders of the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma and the FBI's investigation.
In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, ... (Goodreads)
The Elements of Style
by William Strunk Jr.
A practical guide to written English, providing guidance on grammar and style.
This style manual offers practical advice on improving writing skills. Throughout, the emphasis is on promoting a plain English style. This little book can help you communicate more effectively by ... (Goodreads)
Zeitoun
by Dave Eggers
A man's struggle to survive and reunite with his family amidst the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Abdulrahman Zeitoun grew up in Syria. After a few years of apprenticeship in the Syrian port city of Jableh , Zeitoun spent twenty years working at sea as a muscleman, engineer and fisherman. During ... (Wikipedia)
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
by Bill Bryson
A humorous recounting of a boy's childhood in the 1950s and his fantastical adventures.
Bryson was born on December 8, 1951. He spent his childhood growing up in Des Moines, Iowa , part of the baby-boom generation born in the post-war years. He describes his early life and his parents, ... (Wikipedia)
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
by Anthony Bourdain
A humorous and unflinching account of life in restaurant kitchens, exploring the culture and camaraderie of the culinary world.
A deliciously funny, delectably shocking banquet of wild-but-true tales of life in the culinary trade from Chef Anthony Bourdain, laying out his more than a quarter-century of drugs, sex, and haute ... (Goodreads)
Notes from a Small Island
by Bill Bryson
A humorous travelogue of Bryson's final tour of Britain before moving to the US. He reflects on the quirks and charms of British life.
"Suddenly, in the space of a moment, I realized what it was that I loved about Britain-which is to say, all of it." After nearly two decades spent on British soil, Bill Bryson - bestselling author of ... (Goodreads)
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
by Barbara Kingsolver
A family's journey to eat locally grown, sustainable food.
Author Barbara Kingsolver and her family abandoned the industrial-food pipeline to live a rural life—vowing that, for one year, they'd only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it ... (Goodreads)
Nickel and Dimed: On
by Barbara Ehrenreich
A journalist's exploration of poverty in the U.S., exposing the struggles of low-wage workers.
Millions of Americans work full-time, year-round, for poverty-level wages. In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which ... (Goodreads)
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
by Christopher Hitchens
Criticism of organized religion, arguing it is the root of much suffering in the world.
With his unique brand of erudition and wit, Hitchens describes the ways in which religion is man-made. "God did not make us," he says. "We made God." He explains the ways in which religion is ... (Goodreads)
Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works
by Ash Maurya
A practical guide to building a successful startup by testing and iterating ideas to find a sustainable business model.
We live in an age of unparalleled opportunity for innovation. We’re building more products than ever before, but most of them fail—not because we can’t complete what we set out to build, but because ... (Goodreads)
Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman
by Alice Steinbach
A middle-aged woman travels solo through Europe, seeking adventure and self-discovery.
"In many ways, I was an independent woman," writes Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Alice Steinbach. “For years I’d made my own choices, paid my own bills, shoveled my own snow.” But somehow she had ... (Goodreads)
Plenty More: Vibrant Vegetable Cooking from London's Ottolenghi
by Yotam Ottolenghi
A cookbook filled with inventive and flavorful vegetarian recipes, showcasing the versatility of vegetables in modern cuisine.
The hotly anticipated follow-up to London chef Yotam Ottolenghis bestselling and award-winning cookbook Plenty, featuring more than 150 vegetarian dishes organized by cooking method. Yotam Ottolenghi ... (Goodreads)
Jane Austen: A Life
by Claire Tomalin
A biography of Jane Austen, exploring her life, family, and the social context in which she wrote her beloved novels.
At her death in 1817, Jane Austen left the world six of the most beloved novels written in English—but her shortsighted family destroyed the bulk of her letters; and if she kept any diaries, they did ... (Goodreads)
