(The Atlantic liked this book, but I found it slight --- although we're going to make bitters from this book in our office, so maybe I'll appreciate it more later)
Finally, I didn't read this "recently", but I'll take the opportunity to STRONGLY RECOMMEND IT TO EVERYONE:
This book blew my freaking head off. The authors are modernist ("molecular", gag) consultant/chefs with a very popular blog; the book adapts the stuff on their blog to home and professional cooking.
What's amazing about it is that they did such a great job translating modernist techniques not just to home kitchens but to home cooking, so that the same concepts that give you wanking spherification and foam dishes in restaurants give you hands-free bulletproof risotto at home. I could go on and on about this thing. It is simultaneously the geekiest and most useful food book I've ever bought. Own it immediately.
(Do audiobooks count? If so, add to the list _Thinking Fast And Slow_ by Daniel Kahneman, _Blood, Bones & Butter_ by Gabrielle Hamilton, and Caro's _Power Broker_).
_Wolf Hall_ (http://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Hall-Novel-Booker-Prize/dp/080508...)
_Tree of Smoke_ (http://www.amazon.com/Tree-Smoke-Novel-Denis-Johnson/dp/0374...)
(I'm about halfway through both; I'm trying to get better about reading fiction).
_The Lean Startup_ (http://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-...)
(Having trouble getting myself propelled into this one)
_Imbibe!_ (http://www.amazon.com/Imbibe-Absinthe-Cocktail-Professor-Fea...)
(Probably the best book on booze ever written, my favorite thing I've read all year)
_Bitters_ (http://www.amazon.com/Bitters-Spirited-Cure-All-Cocktails-Fo...)
(The Atlantic liked this book, but I found it slight --- although we're going to make bitters from this book in our office, so maybe I'll appreciate it more later)
Finally, I didn't read this "recently", but I'll take the opportunity to STRONGLY RECOMMEND IT TO EVERYONE:
_Ideas in Food_ (http://www.amazon.com/Ideas-Food-Great-Recipes-They/dp/03077...)
This book blew my freaking head off. The authors are modernist ("molecular", gag) consultant/chefs with a very popular blog; the book adapts the stuff on their blog to home and professional cooking.
What's amazing about it is that they did such a great job translating modernist techniques not just to home kitchens but to home cooking, so that the same concepts that give you wanking spherification and foam dishes in restaurants give you hands-free bulletproof risotto at home. I could go on and on about this thing. It is simultaneously the geekiest and most useful food book I've ever bought. Own it immediately.
(Do audiobooks count? If so, add to the list _Thinking Fast And Slow_ by Daniel Kahneman, _Blood, Bones & Butter_ by Gabrielle Hamilton, and Caro's _Power Broker_).