Nobody wants to pack a 800+ page book to go on vacation or business trips. But some of us never fix a meal without a cook book. What to do in a kitchenette far from home? Access your cookbook online.

So far, I have used it to structure meals around specific fresh ingredients discovered at the produce market. For example, a search on "asparagus" brought up fifty hits. Each hit was surrounded by three lines of text which made it easy to browse and select the recipe that would work for my family. The author's suggestions for alternatives and variations gave even more flexibility to adapt the recipe to whatever was available.

Maybe you are not traveling but enjoy curling up to read a good cookbook. Mark Bittman's conversational comments about ingredients, utensils and recipes have been fun and insightful. A cook that is enthusiastic about his subject can't help creating tasty meals. Somebody that just wants recipes with no discussions might want to save shelf space and look for something more traditional.

It seemed complicated to get into my Amazon.com account, remember my password, link to my cookbook and so forth. But after getting the access page bookmarked with my favorites, that got easier.

Then, of course, the computer screen is low and wide while the cookbook is high and narrow. I have to wash and dry my hands between chopping vegetables to click to the next screen. Someday maybe books-to-be-read online can be formatted to fit one page per screen -- better yet, one recipe per screen.

I love this book. It explains all sorts of things. Like where different cuts of meat come from. How to make different sauces. How different oils impact the taste of your food. Very few are the times I've been disappointed. I think his idea of sweet tends to be not that sweet, or rich. Like the basic butter cake that involves a whole lot of butter and ground almonds--incredible and simple. I find the cookie recipes to be so-so.

Every meat dish I've made from here has been great. Sometimes I just read the book to learn about food. I think the level of the book is basic to medium, which is fine for me. And if you are a dessert lover, than get another book in addition to this one.

I ordered this for my friend in the #3 box above. She wanted it for a bride & young friend on the island of Sky. She said when she had found this cook book she had tossed out all her other cook books. Her husband wrote for literary magazines, newspapers, and books of his own, not on cooking, 'though, and met and entertained many prominent people, including presidents and royalty. I don't think you could go wrong with this book.