Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. I’ve only ever cooked a few recipes out of it, but I find it a useful guide for technique and some basic principles of cooking, and I’ve learned things from it that have helped me developing my own recipes.
It used to be The New England Journal of Medicine, but now that I’m retired, it’s the IMDb. Before I commit my time to a movie, I want to read some positive reviews about it.
If I’m in a cooking mood, I usually browse AllRecipes .com first for inspiration.
Joy of Cooking was my first cookbook and I still refer to it from time to time.
This book had a profound influence on me at the age of 16. I currently have a copy of the December 1989 printing, and I refer to it constantly.
The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. When I got a H2G2 tattoo last year, I explained to folks that it was the closest thing to a holy text that I’ve got.
Also might add Psychotic Reactions and Carburator Dung, or the last two print editions of the Trouser Press Record Guide.
The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery. It’s at least 50 years old, a real doorstop of a book printed on cheap pulpy paper (though I’m sure there are better versions available now). Written with the homesteader in mind, it tells you how to do it all: how to find land, how to raise, slaughter, and cook any livestock, how to raise rabbits and chickens, what to do with hundreds of eggs and gallons of milk, absolutely everything about planting a garden. It’s fascinating reading. I used to browse through it on anxiety-ridden, sleepless nights. Fantasize about farm-living, lol, not as easy as one would think.
Two more faithful companions that got me through long winter nights in Moscow:
How about the Periodic Table? Though it’s not exactly a book.
The Chemical Rubber Company used to publish a very comprehensive book of chemical and physical information which was often referred to as ‘the bible’, perhaps because it was a very fat book bound in dark covers which resembled a family bible. Actually, now I look it up, they still do.
For computer folks, there’s Knuth, of course. Though I will confess that despite having had a long software engineering career, I have never read it.
I am not going to name one book-instead I am going to list my “personal bookshelf”–the list of books I have read the most:
- the first five Straight Dope books
- the first three Book of Lists by Irving Wallace, David Wallechinsky, and Amy Wallace
- Big Secrets, Bigger Secrets, and Biggest Secrets by William Pounstone
- Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science by martin gardner
- the gift of fear by gavin de becker
- the latest copy of The Guinness Book of World Records (I buy it annually and still have about 30 years worth of editions)
My favorite genre to collect are trivia books and especially the “book of lists” type.
I’ve found my probable future Bible, does that count? Everything Elephants by Michael Don Knapik. I hope it’s good!
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.
History and maps are my wheelhouse and so over the decades I have filled a room full of expensive and rare Historical Atlases to prove it.
But The Penguin Atlas of World History, Vol. 1 (It’s also called The Anchor series as well as others, but still in print) and it’s brother Vol 2 are all anyone really needs. There is so much in those little books they are gold to me no matter the topic, or era, or place on this planet. Penguin has you covered with more detail and more nuance than anything you can buy in any American bookstore at the very least.
Everyone remotely interested in history or has to take a class on any time period would do well to have those two small cheap books on their shelf.
Great book, would have been mine also if I self identified as ‘Gardener’ for this.
I hope it counts, because my bible is still being written too! The forthcoming Sam Jaffe’s Caterpillars of New England.
But David Wagner’s Caterpillars of Eastern North America has been doing a great job of filling the bible role for several years now.
[ETA: Oh wait, you meant that’s your future bible because you intend to get into that subject, not because the book hasn’t yet come out (2002 publication date).]
In Search of Wonder by Damon Knight. One of the first collections of critical articles about science fiction. Of especial note to me were the sections on “Chuckleheads” – SF stories that were poorly conceived.* I made sure I didn’t make the mistakes Knight pointed out.
Second is Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain, which is a great writing guide that’s unlike any other. The odd thing is that I had already developed his technique on my own, but it’s still a great guide, especially if you’re a pantser (i.e., make things up as you go along, without planning).
*My favorite comment “‘This eloquent novel’ begins the blurb for X, making two errors of fact in three words.”
Kinda. I’ve been collecting elephant figurines for awhile, and it’s great to know there’s a book about it. And maybe I’ll find some hidden treasure!
Before the Internet, I’d use the World Almanac nearly daily. I still buy it, but mostly for completeness sake.
It’s a toss-up between
Shoes and Pattens (Medieval Finds from Excavations in London) - Grew & De Neergaard
or Patterns of Fashion 3 : the cut and construction of clothes for men and women 1560–1620 - Arnold
or The Forme of Cury - various.
Depending on if I’m doing leatherwork, clothes or food.
Closest I get would be dictionaries, I guess. I have a two volume Shorter Oxford (it ain’t that short) as a go-to; and most of the works of Eric Partridge, amongst a scattering of other things.
I have quoted his various dictionaries several times on these boards.
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