JoeSpareBedroom wrote:

> Overdoing it? That book is perfect for this person.


Yes and no. I'll put on my librarian's coat here and say that a lot of
times when someone asks a broad but basic question, it's as wrong to
give too much information as too little or incorrect information. The
asker finds himself in overwhelm and as baffled as to where to start as
before. Joy of Cooking can do that to a person. Those of us who have
used it know that it's a good basic cookbook with easy recipes and clear
explanations. Those of us who are just starting out might pick it up,
see the sheer size of the index and start to sweat. Then open to a
random page, see recipes with several steps or recipes that refer you to
a recipe on another page in another section and break out in a full
blown panic attack. (My mother is practically like that. JOC was the
only cookbook we had growing up, but she never used it. She couldn't
figure out how it worked.) (And my mother is an educated woman, a
college professor in fact, who just couldn't decode cookbooks.) Victory
Garden is a better beginner's vegetable book. The information is
amazingly easy to find.


--Lia