Rating: 
Summary: Collection of layouts
Review: I knew what I was buying when I purchased this book - a collection of layouts. However, as an aspiring graphic designer I haven't really found the book of much use. When you design, you need to have the content first, and the book doesn't acknowledge this. It achieves what its title promises - "recipes for faster... layouts". Whether they are better is debatable. Indeed, it is an eye opener, but there is more to good designs than merely aesthetics and cookie-cutter layouts.
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Summary: Nice Book if you know nothing about design
Review: I think this book is for people that don't have any experience on graphic design whatsoever. It doesn't explain a thing about layout, why to use this or that layout, what that layout represents, etc... It's just blank pages with variations of the same concept. Though to be fair the book can start a tiny little spark here and then.The only thing I was surprised of was the quality of the paper used. My advice to the publisher: invest more in the content (or invest at all, maybe some text or explanation would be nice) and less in the stock paper. If you are looking for a nice book about layout I strongly recommend you buy Jim Krause: 'Layout Index' (That or any from the "Index" collection)
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Summary: For the uninspired...
Review: I was eager to get this book after reading good reviews...so I was surprised to find there isnt one line of text in the entire book, just a collection of uninspired layouts anybody could conceive if forced at gunpoint. If you want to get ahead in design, this is not the path.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Layout Index Reference
Review: If you know what to expect you will not be disappointed with this book, unlike some of the other reviewers. Graphic Design Cookbook is an extremely useful tool for graphic designers looking for layout ideas. Rather than sorting through dozens of graphic design books to get ideas, this book has sections for every aspect of page layout placement including: page numbers, paragraph placement, titles, and MUCH MORE!!
This book has virtually NO writing or explanations in it. This reference should be used only for visual layout placement ideas, and not for concrete explanations. I use this book whenever I need to make flyers, print ads, or any other print materials. EXTREMELY HELPFUL source and for this cheap cheap price, you can't beat the resourcefulness of this little book.
Another great resource that is very similiar to this book is Jim Krause's "Layout Index."
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Summary: A really great place to get ideas
Review: It's 10:00 at night, and you still have several hours of design ahead of you. How do you keep your designs creative and original? The first book I grab is The Graphic Design Cookbook. It's not a book of canned designs, but a catalog of design concepts and structures to hang your own artwork on. I wouldn't go into my studio without it.
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Summary: It's no more than a clipart collection
Review: It's no more than the print out of a clipart/styles/templates/borders collection and other amenities that you can find in any Office-Automation-Software application. EXTREMELY POOR
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Summary: Great for reference...
Review: Not worth it Is VERY general, no meaningful text, the entire book is ONLY about redundant and basic examples of layouts, you can easily live without it!
Don't buy it!!
Rating:
Summary: Incredibly helpful
Review: On the surface, books like "Graphic Design Cookbook" can often be viewed as chop-shop, cliff-note style templates for non-creative people looking for ideas to steal/copy. As a professional graphic designer, I looked at this book cover with a smirk at first, but I decided to check it out anyhow. Boy was I surprised. What makes "GDC" work is that they provide many examples of effective, smart, layouts using graphical elements, text measures, pull quotes and grids. But what makes the book sing is that the elements are abstract geometric shapes -- not completed designs -- so your imaginiation / creativity runs wild. Any copy that is used is Latin, so your eyes arent distracted into READING the text, just view it as a functional element in relation to the physical page. It's true -- many look at magazine ads or print annuals looking for layout ideas, but this one actually allows your ideas to flow -- not form fit someone else's creation. It's a caffeine kick to the right brain.
Rating:
Summary: Incredibly helpful
Review: On the surface, books like "Graphic Design Cookbook" can often be viewed as chop-shop, cliff-note style templates for non-creative people looking for ideas to steal/copy. As a professional graphic designer, I looked at this book cover with a smirk at first, but I decided to check it out anyhow. Boy was I surprised. What makes "GDC" work is that they provide many examples of effective, smart, layouts using graphical elements, text measures, pull quotes and grids. But what makes the book sing is that the elements are abstract geometric shapes -- not completed designs -- so your imaginiation / creativity runs wild. Any copy that is used is Latin, so your eyes arent distracted into READING the text, just view it as a functional element in relation to the physical page. It's true -- many look at magazine ads or print annuals looking for layout ideas, but this one actually allows your ideas to flow -- not form fit someone else's creation. It's a caffeine kick to the right brain.
Rating:
Summary: A BIG collection of lay-outs
Review: The book is almost what the title says: a Cookbook. It is full of sketched 'recepies' of layouts (most of them mediocre), almost no text, organized in categories.
If it really were a Cookbook, you would have some text, explaining a bit more thoroughly what you could do with the idea presented.
It's a book you learn very little from - you are expected to apply what is presented. The book laid in a very arid manner, being plainly dull at some points. I did not like it at all.
If you're looking for a real Cookbook, get Jim Krause's 'Idea Index'! It not only gives you the ideas, but also has 'suggested serving variations', so you can spice-up the concepts presented.
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