How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food

Purchased this book for my two daughters for Christmas. They both love it because it tells you simply how to make everything.

Love this book

As someone that isn't afraid of the kitchen, but cooks very little and with little variety, this book has been amazing. Bittman's in-recipe tips, beginning of chapter advice on the food subject he's about to explain, and suggestions for additions or modifications is amazingly practical and helpful. It's one of the few books that gives you more than just recipes, it gives the how to think about this, how to play with these ingredients and modify them to suit your tastes (or your leftover ingredients!) and what kinds of things go together for future reference. I love it!
My one (mild) critique - I do think "everything" is quite an exaggeration, I've only had it for a month or so and have found 5-10 things I had to google for instead, but it's a pretty big book and has a lot of the basics.
This is definitely a teaching book and if one actually cooked through it, I have no doubt he or she would be a very competent chef at the end. I highly recommend it to anyone starting out on the journey of cooking!

Used it for years

This was a copy for my son who has now left the nest and is on his own. My wife and I find it a first class book, my first experience was with a Christmas Goose, primo! My son was entertaining (Mac and Cheese) and I thought, "Jeez. He ought to do better than that." and into my mind popped Bittman. I came up with a used copy (condition was as advertised) and his last venture was "Fettucine Alfredo" a nice jump.

how to cook everything

This book is fantastic! I am replacing a well-worn copy. Highly recommended

Excellent All-Purpose Cookbook

This book contains terrific recipes, all very clearly written and spelled out. Bittman writes with an engaging voice, always anticipating the questions of today's cook. Many recipes are followed with variations, which not only give you choices but give you ideas about how to be creative in general with your cooking.
Book also contains excellent reference sections at the beginning of each chapter: a good introduction to soups, meats, breads, etc. I have learned so much from it.
One critique: the binding on my copy has fallen apart completely. It's true, I use the book often, but a cookbook should hold up. I'd say within a year the binding was cracked and within a few years the pages were beginning to fall out. Now I have basically a pile of pages. I have heard the same from friends with the same book.