Rating: 
Summary: More Wonderful Alton!
Review: I am a huge fan of Alton Brown's show - don't let my three and a half (rounded up to four) star rating dissuade you. I give it three and a half stars because I have not tried any of the receipes in this book - and there aren't enough of them. However, with his entertaining and approachable style, Alton explores the science of cooking - the how and why - which will help you no matter what you cook. I love the way he explains things in simple terms, and also advocates LESS stuff in the kitchen instead of more (He tells you what to buy - and believe me, the price tags are easier to handle than the one on this book!). The receipes are based mostly on cooking styles I don't use, such as grilling, but would be great for people who do (a great gift for the man in your life!). I suggest that you keep this book not in the kitchen, but by the bed, and read it as you would any non-fiction book - cover to cover. The fun is in his personal stories and entertaining style, just as is his show.
Rating: 
Summary: I was wrong
Review: I didn't get Alton Brown at first. Ok, let me be blunt - I didn't like him. I watched the channel he is on, but would quickly get annoyed with the weird camera angles and borderline humor and change the channel. Well hindsight has officially kicked in and the man is a culinary genius. I now love his show and this book, although his humor is still borderline. When he is funny though, he is really funny. Anyway, the book is great because the focus is on teaching you on how to cook, not just listing recipes with some glossy pictures. For example, what type of grill is good, why a cast iron skillet, how/ why to braise. In addition, PLENTY of great recipes. I highly recommend the book!
Rating:
Summary: Must buy for any fan
Review: I've read through this book at least 3 times in the 5 months I've owned it. I can't imagine any fan of Good Eats actually needing to read a review before buying this book but i you need one....Do not buy this book if you expect copious amounts of recipes. The ones listed in this book are more token examples on the cooking principles explained earlier in the chapters. Yes they are viable recipes but I wouldn't consider it even close to a complete cookbook. These aren't the ones on his show either so don't buy this book expecting that either. If you want those go to foodtv.com. Buy this book is you like the principles of cooking that Alton is so famous for, his blending of cooking and science. I enjoy his technical breakdown of each of the cooking methods in a very concise manner. It has expanded my understading of the mechanics of cooking which servers to only increase the pleasure I derive from it.
Rating:
Summary: Alton Brown, you rock.
Review: I am a HUGE fan of the show. The thing that makes this book BRILLANT is that it IS NOT A RECIPE BOOK... He doesnt throw a recipe at you, he explains WHY things cook they way they do... WHY and HOW, rather than giving you a fish, he is giving you a fishing pole and then teaches you the best bait and when the best time is to go fishing. I cant put this book down. Pick up this book, its a must own.
Rating:
Summary: tasty
Review: Good Eats, Alton Brown, and the book are all terrific. This book will help you understand the science behind the cooking--why certain processes and flavor combinations make sense--which lets you be a better cook WITHOUT a book. My only gripe is that the book is FULL of typos. Who edited this thing? Monkeys? Shame on Brown's publisher.
Rating:
Summary: Knowledge is Everything
Review: If you like Alton Brown's Mr. Wizard approach to cooking, you'll definitely enjoy this book. It's an great companion volume to his Good Eats television show. The book is written in the same irreverent style. It's not a cookbook in the classic sense, it's more like a textbook with recipes. Showing the how's and why's behind the cooking process in an understandable manner. Learning the actual physics of cooking has opened a whole new world to me. This is an excellent read.
Rating:
Summary: It's Alton Brown!
Review: No more needs to be said. :)
Rating:
Summary: Not a cookbook, nor really a science text
Review: Alton Brown makes it clear on the very first page of this book that he's not a chef. Instead, his gig is explaining the science behind how cooking operates. That explains why this book, unusually among food titles, is divided up based on the type of cooking involved (searing, grilling, roasting, frying are the first four chapters) instead of meal or food varieties. Brown's book is an interesting read if you want to know what happens on a subatomic level when you slap a piece of beef on the barbie. But unlike science texts, or even more intellectual books like Robert Wolke's "What Einstein Told His Cook" (Norton, 2002), Brown's determined to make it entertaining as well as informative. As anyone who's ever seen him wielding fire on his TV show can tell you, Alton Brown likes to play with his food. And so while the relentlessly chatty and informal tone can get a little tiring at times, I have to admit that the chart explaining types of fats (little women holding shopping bags or dead rats) made me laugh out loud. Brown would argue, and I'd agree, that being a great cook -- professionally or in your own home -- not just requires knowing *how* to cook, but also *why* different processes work as they do, and how to get the best results out of each method. You may not need all the information in here if you just want to make an impressive meal. But if you really want to be a kitchen ninja, and feel as comfortable there as a great mechanic does in his garage, these are the kinds of things you ought to understand. By the way, my lovely bride tried out Alton's hard-cooked eggs recipe (pp. 226-7) and it worked like a charm. No more boiling for us. It's baking all the way!
Rating:
Summary: Three Men Gone Nuts!
Review: My husband LOVES Alton and has just gone nutty over this book. My husband is not a book reader. He preordered this book and waited by the door for it to arrive. He read it from cover to cover and will go back and reread parts when he has choosen a paticular meal or recipe. He loved it so much he gave one to his Dad. His Dad loved it so much, he gave one to a friend. All three of them love the recipes, techniques and pictures and will actually sit down and have conversations about it. How often does a book without sports or nudity get three men into a conversation?
Rating:
Summary: Funniest *textbook* ever
Review: I've read some of the other reviews here. Some people love this book, and some people don't. I think it's a matter of expectations. If you watch the TV show "Good Eats" and like it, then you will love this book -- it is everything you think it will be and more, filled with pop culture references, witty analogies, and unusual anecdotes. If you don't know what "Good Eats" is, then you need to approach this book as a *textbook*, not a *cookbook*. I have never seen a "cookbook" that is anything like this book. The chapters of the book are divided according to cooking methodology (e.g., braising, grilling, etc.), and most of the chapter is devoted to *teaching* you about that cooking methodology. At the end of each chapter is a handful of recipes using that methodology -- but these recipes should not be why you buy the book. The book even looks like a high school textbook. The cover is very thick and hard. The shape of the book is textbook-ish. And the pages are very high-quality, very thick ... OK, so my high school textbooks had cheap thin pages in them. I'll come clean -- I love "Good Eats", I love Alton Brown, and I love this book. But I have to knock 1 star off of this rating, though, because my copy (purchased here) had several pages that were blurry, as if some giant with book-sized hands got into the frying chapter and smeared his greasy hands over the pages. I exchanged it for a perfectly fine copy, though. Caveat emptor.
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