Foodie Books

I love to read...if in my free time I'm not cooking, you can probably find me curled up on the couch or on our patio with a good book. I read my cookbooks. Anyone who's never taken the time to read a cookbook really should. You will find new ingredients, methods and recipies that you may overlook if you only take a look-see.
How to Cook Everything (Mark Bitman) is a great cookbook to start with because he is witty in his culinary commentary and provides great information. He also relates personally to his food and makes you want to try his recipies. Overall I find his recipies to be easy to prepare and well written, but I have found a few recipies that were just terrible (though out of 50 or so that's not so bad). The Top Chef cookbook is a good read, mostly because they provide a running commentary on the show and the behind the scenes (including bios on the chefs and judges from all 4 seasons).
Food in History (Reay Tannahill) is very good so far (I'm only about 1/3 of the way through). Very informative and an interesting read. Animal, Vegetable Miricle is GREAT...everyone should read that one! Heat is great and I think I slept with it under my pillow for about a month and I still read it on a fairly regular basis. Burford made me want to give up on my job and school and run away to Italy for six months and work in a butcher shop or a bakery or both. Kitchen Confidential is a good read, though it made me not want to eat seafood anymore.
I recommend that any cook have a pretty wide variety of cookbooks around...the internet is great for recipies but you never know how good the recipie will be. Epicurious and the Food Network are about the only two places I trust unconditionaly for recipies. Anywehre else pretty muhc anyone can post and that can be very dangerous. Beware trying something off the internet when you're in a pinch or need a good recipie. I also like cookbooks beacuse I can write in the margins and keep it for furhter use.
I write all of my favorite and altered recipes on 4 by 6 index cards and put them into a photo album so they are easily accesible and they are spillproof safe and sound in their plastic jackets. It's nice to be able to wipe your recipies down with a sponge.