Media praise for Cooking for Geeks
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"[Cooking for Geeks] is not a conventional cookbook but a scientific explanation of the how and why of cooking which will certainly appeal to that group, as well as to cooking professionals and intellectually curious others."
-- , Slashdot.org
"If you read it from start to finish, it is one of the most useful books on understanding cooking, kind of like a rock-and-roll version of Harold McGee's 'On Food and Cooking.'"
-- , The Washington Post
"Its 431 pages are jam-packed and guaranteed to satisfy both the head and the tummy."
-- , Toolbox for IT
"I really enjoyed the sections dedicated to the process of cooking. It was just all out fascinating and fun to read!"
-- , Geeky Blogger's Book Blog
"Potter, who studied computer science and visual art at Brown University, does himself a favor by including fun interviews with geek icons. In one bright spot, Boing Boing coeditor Xeni Jardin talks about discovering exotic foods in her real world and Internet travels."
-- , Boston Globe/Boston.com
"I highly recommend the book for anyone serious about cooking. The tips and tricks it teaches are useful for everyone. And if you're adventurous, some of the experiments sound like a lot of fun."
-- , Wyvern's Peak Writing
"...Cooking for Geeks is an obvious must-have book choice for any technical enthusiast who also enjoys the culinary arts."
-- , Dr. Dobb's CodeTalk
"Alton Brown fans take note! You need a copy of Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks and Good Food. Seriously, this book takes everything I enjoy about Alton's shows and combines them into a book for the beginner, novice and pro alike...I can't imagine NOT owning this cookbook and I love to cook and know more than the basics already. With outstanding recipes, entertaining interviews and witty writing, this is definitely a book you should hand your friends, family and especially neighbors who do come running out of their home with flaming pans."
-- , Roundtable Reviews
"This book is a must-have for anyone truly serious about better understanding their kitchen, and wanting to make better food."
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"Jeff Potter has taken the sting out of the moniker «geek.» Once you're through with his book, you'll proudly claim that title for yourself!"
-- , 18thC Cuisine
"Awesome job Jeff and O'Reilly to get everyone I know reinvigorated with cooking! Highly recommended for geeks, non-geeks, foodies and novices alike!"
-- , Amazon.com
"I have discovered a true treasure. One that will appease my husband and make it appear that I can be logical. Introducing Cooking for Geeks...this is a must have book. It's quickly becoming my favorite cookbook....Even without the recipes, the substance of this book is AWESOME!"
-- , Mommy's Memorandum
"This is like reading a season's worth of Alton Brown's Good Eats shows. Plenty of fun and very informational...and you can eat or toss your mistakes."
-- , Duffbert's Random Musings
"Cooking for Geeks is a model for this new genre. Its publisher is O'Reilly Media, the gold standard for technical documentation and instruction books, known for everything from compendiums like Building a Web 2.0 Application with ASP.NET to breezy beach reads like Algorithms in a Nutshell. The company's readers are legendarily loyal. The spines of O'Reilly books are designed to line up visually on a bookshelf, as few computer programmers own just one."
-- , The Atlantic
"If you love good food and you love to understand how things work, check out Cooking for Geeks. You can learn how to make ginger syrup for your own homemade ginger ale."
-- , Sheryl's Blog
"Not to stand on ceremony, I love this book. Others have made a similar affirmation, and I now understand why. Being something of a foodie as well as a Machead, the idea that these two pursuits could be synergized coherently never occurred to me prior to encountering Jeff Potter’s Cooking For Geeks, subtitled: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food."
-- , Power'Book Central
"I highly recommend this book for Geeks, Chefs, Homemakers, Scientists and anyone who wants to know more than just the recipe. It’s also great too for teaching kids some of the science behind cooking methods that have been used for years...A wealth of information and a reference I will probably be referring back to for years."
-- , Gear Diary
"Potter's best advice for programmers: 'Recipes are code, so read the recipe, top to bottom before starting. Every word matters.' That's especially true if you try his 30-second chocolate cake recipe."
-- , Blogcritics.org
"We've made a couple of the recipes, the Simple Beef Stew is simple...and delicious...If you're the kind of person that needs to know what makes Cheetos puffy, you need this book on your countertop!"
-- , Three Different Directions
"Cooking For Geeks would make a splendid gift for the geek in your life, and a delightful read whether you cook yourself or not—plus, you can go extra-geeky and put it on your Kindle!"
-- , CarnalNation
"It sounds cliched, but this really is a great book for beginners and advanced cooks alike. It breaks down the science behind cooking, in a very readable and interesting and non-initimidating way. Think a cross between Alton Brown's "Good Eats" and "Mythbusters.""
-- , http://newbrokefoodie.blogspot.com/
"Cooking for Geeks, a new cookbook by Jeff Potter, is probably the best science-meets-the-kitchen book to come out. Ever."
-- , Chow.com
"Let me first say, I am in love with this cookbook. It elicited a squee of delight from me and such occurrences are very rare...If you are a fan of Alton Brown, Mythbusters, a science geek, a culinary nerd—I can keep going. This is a great resource. It could not have been released at a better time. It would be an excellent gift for any science student moving into their first apartment or as a birthday or Christmas gift. I already want a paper copy."
-- , Culinary Carnivale
"If you’ve tried to read through Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking and fell asleep, Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food is a good alternative, and in some respects may be an even better book for the home and professional cook because it includes a ton of well thought out recipes."
-- , Culinary Tips
"My own session with the book made me feel a lot more confident in my cooking..."
-- , The New Yorker
"The best things about O'Reilly's books are the big variety of books for everybody in our group, plus your offering enough print and digital choices to keep everyone happy. "
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"What I mostly enjoyed about the book, however, is its witty prose and friendly approach. It made me want to sit and read it from cover to cover and prompted me to look more closely to the ways I already cook, trying to improve them....if you love the science behind your cooking this is definitely the book for you."
-- , Food Junkie not Junk Food
"What Potter is really out to show us nonfoodies is that cooking isn't some hopelessly mysterious, ethereal art, accessible only to those with carefully cultivated aesthetic sensibilities (or who look like Padma Lakshmi)."
-- , Prime Time
"Written by Jeff Potter, a former software engineer turned food writer, it has no color photographs at all. Potter skipped the food porn and went straight for the nerd bait."
-- , The Buffalo News
"The book defies a conventional genre definition and is a very refreshing detour from the over-crowded cook-book space."
-- , Heartcrossings
"The truth of the matter is that I might not be geeky ENOUGH to really appreciate this cookbook. But, if you have someone in your life who is (or if it’s actually YOU!) this would be a perfect gift."
-- , Katie Talks About
"...a superbly well-written guide that is filled to the brim with information for even the most non-technical reader and/or aspiring cook."
-- , Gizmos for Geeks
"But Potter has certainly opened my eyes. My son, a math major at college, will be getting a copy for Christmas. (I can say that because he never reads my column.)"
-- , NashuaTelegraph.com
"This book isn’t a traditional collection of recipes. It’s a wonderful tour of the world of food. It’s technical enough to be very informative concerning how food cooks and why certain combinations work so well."
-- , Monthly Computer Chronicle, October 2010
"No doubt, some people will find all the science off-putting, but for many others, it will strip away the mystery of why things work or don't in the kitchen."
-- , Pittsburgh Tribune
"We found our payoff in the chapter on cooking around allergens. Of all the chapters, this is the one that most felt like a reference work — a concise but thorough reference work. Jeff explains why (for example) taking gluten out of a recipe and merely substituting some non-gluten flour is probably not going to produce edible results, and then explains some of the common approaches for dealing with the problem. He’s trusting us, the readers, to be able and willing to do some experimentation and find our own way without having a GPS to lead us by the nose. While it’s initially tempting to have the comfort of specific substitution steps, in the end, CfG will help you know how to make substitutions on your own and quickly dial in to an acceptable solution rather than sit around waiting for someone to write the HOWTO."
-- , Devin on Earth
"If you are a home-grown scientist with a big curiosity about life's tiniest chemical reactions, or you need help explaining to your kid why dough rises, check out Cooking for Geeks ($4.99). It is part cookbook, part laboratory manual."
-- , Appolicious
"Cooking For Geeks just might get every geek you know excited about cooking."
-- , Gizmodo
"This is as geeky as it gets. Fun for students who are looking for more out of the kitchen then food, or parents hoping to turn dinner into an experiment – that is edible. Cooking for Geeks is full of fun and fun information for any cook."
-- , Super Chef
"However, for geeks who never really grasped cooking conceptually, Cooking for Geeks will spark an epiphany and get you initializing your kitchen in no time. "
-- , Mercury News
"Potter's hope is to encourage geeky types who like to take things apart and experiment with them to realize that cooking's just the same — only you can eat the results."
-- , USA Today
"Potter follows in the footsteps of TV cooking geek Alton Brown, who has made a career of taking an encyclopedic knowledge of cooking and distilling it into 22-minute science lessons complete with recipes on the very popular Good Eats. Potter is Alton Brown on steroids, employing a depth of scientific explanation that exploits one of the benefits of the print medium. In what may be a harbinger of his future on the small screen, Potter dons his goggles to make ice cream in 30 seconds using liquid nitrogen in a campy video on his website (cookingforgeeks.com). Check it out."
-- , The Vancouver Sun
"This is not a reference book... You don’t pick it up and say, 'Let’s look for a nice dessert to make for when Aunt Mardella comes to visit.' Instead, you get something more valuable; the ability to look in your cupboard to see what you have, understand how those things could fit together to make something wonderful, and pull something together based on your understanding of the ingredients, processes and interactions available."
-- , MatthewHelmke.net
"If you barely know how to make toast, you will do just fine with Cooking for Geeks. In fact, you might do a little better than a more experienced cook, as you won’t have a much you will need to un-learn, and you won’t be so averse to poaching fish in your dishwasher or making a wood-fired pizza on the underside of your skillet."
-- , GameDev.net
"Awesome job Jeff and O'Reilly to get everyone I know reinvigorated with cooking! Highly recommended for geeks, non-geeks, foodies and novices alike!"
-- , Amazon.com
"In Mr. Potter's geek world, recipes are the codes. Directions are suggested protocols. Taste is feedback. Mise en place is equivalent to downloading the various bits and bytes needed for the recipe."
-- , Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"This is a book geared at everyone from people who don't know how to boil water to professional cooks, because most of the focus is on the science behind food, which I think few people know. But which is really cool!"
-- , wordsofastory.livejournal.com
"Cooking for Geeks manages to do what is nearly impossible with most cookbooks. It is accessible to anyone, from the complete novice to the fully adept in the kitchen, providing step-by-step instructions which are easy to follow."
-- , Squidoo
"..it is now a go-to resource in my kitchen!"
-- , Squidoo
"It should be very useful to those who want to learn about cooking but need to know what actually is going on. Furthermore, it gives quite a number of tips that could well be new to many experienced cooks."
-- , GadgetSpeak
"Real men cook with goggles and liquid nitrogen! Making molecular gastronomists look rather quaint, O'Reilly's Cooking for Geeks is a densely packed collection of hard-core food science, cooking nerdery, inspiring interviews and clever recipes for the industrial-tool and beaker set."
-- , The Press Democrat
"There is tons of science in this book but also practical advice and question answering. Like — why do you cook things at a certain temp? Or what's sous vide and how do you do it? Lots of interviews and recipes with a dash of fun."
-- , Seacoastonline.com
"[T]his book was a delightful and fascinating read.... If you have a geek or cooking enthusiast in your family, this book will make a perfect gift."
-- , Amazon.com
"...Cooking for Geeks (O'Reilly, $34.99) [is] an excellent walk through the science of food and the basic techniques to turn that knowledge into flavor."
-- , Chicago Tribune
"Highly recommended and it would make a really great Xmas gift for any geek. What more can I say than it's been added to my cookbook shelf and no - you can't borrow it...."
-- , I Programmer
"I LOVE this book. It’s inspiring, invigorating, and damned fun to spend time inside the mind of ‘big picture’ cooking. I’m Hungry!"
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"Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food is more about how you approach cooking, and the suggested approach is with a bit of science in one hand, and a sense of adventure in the other. Along with the recipes, the book is packed with nuggets of information you'll be so glad to know. Perfect for beginning cooks to restaurant chefs, teachers, parents, and, of course, your slightly geeky friends."
-- , The Perfect Pantry
"In his enchanting, funny, and informative book, Cooking for Geeks (O’Reilly), Jeff Potter tells us why things work in the kitchen and why they don’t."
-- , NY Daily News
"Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, Good Food, Good Book."
-- ,
"While giving very usable recipes, Cooking for Geeks explains the physics and chemistry of issues such as collagen denaturization (the reason slow braising makes short ribs succulent) and the Maillard reactions (the reasons food browns when heated). If you know someone who would want to cure their own gravlax or infuse their own orange bitters, this is the cookbook for them."
-- , The Courier-Journal
"And for the more cerebrally inclined and less poetic chefs of your acuaintance, you should perhaps consider the Cooking For Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food, as being the sort of gift book that will provide much entertainment."
-- , Manolo's Shoe Blog
"Some of these recipes and techniques you'll want to try; some are just fun to read about. Most of them will make you want to play with food."
-- , ZDNet UK
"I’m a very serious, very accomplished home cook and I got a tremendous amount out of this book. More importantly, I had scads of fun reading it."
-- , FrazzledDad
"Fortunately for cooks everywhere, he made loads of notes while deconstructing recipes and techniques. The result was Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks and Good Food, an eye-opening manual for anyone who has ever pondered the science at work in the kitchen."
-- , The Sacramento Bee
"Check out Cooking for Geeks — your stomach (and your brain) will thank you."
-- , GeekDad
"For the mom who couldn't leave science class behind."
-- , StarTribune.com
"There are people in this world, often called "geeks", who consider vocations like writing operating systems and building robots to be fun, interesting pastimes...This book was written (or sent from heaven) especially for them."
-- , Amazon.com
"I think you will enjoy not only the reading, but the intelligent manner in which the material is presented."
-- , Mouse Tracks, The Journal of the Portland MacIntosh Users Group
"The real fun of this book is in the way it approaches cooking from the perspective of a hacker."
-- , BUST, April/May 2011
"Serious science lovers, inquire within."
-- , The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio
"Cooking for Geeks is my new favourite culinary guide. I think every curious home cook needs a copy. How could I not love a book that explains how I can count my own tastebuds to find out whether I am a Super Taster, mill my own flour, or cook brownies in an orange? Cooking for Geeks is exuberant, charming, funny, good looking and intellectually stimulating. And what more could one possibly ask in a kitchen companion?"
-- , Toronto Tasting Notes
"I must give a big thumbs-up to a book that all of you who like to cook will thoroughly enjoy Cooking for Geeks...I have quite a few books about cooking that get technical about food and cooking and Potter's book is one of the best."
-- , Network World
"Highly recommended!"
-- , Oswco.com
"Chock full of charts, diagrams, food facts and recipes, this book is informative, imaginative and funny as all get out. "
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"Jeff Potter’s excellent book Cooking for Geeks provides a great introduction to the science of cooking meat, and explains what ranges of heat produce what effects in steak and why."
-- , what if? xkcd blog
""Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, Good Food" by Jeff Potter; O'Reilly MediaPerhaps it should be titled “Cooking for Hackers,” for in many ways that is exactly what it is. What you get here is a wonderful combination of science, techniques, advise, interviews, and let’s not forget recipes. But… " Full Review >
-- , theknowingmind.blogspot.com/
"I am part of the O-Really Blogger review program, and long, long ago I picked up the book"Cooking for Geeks" by Jeff Potter for review. This was a fantastic book.. I am both a geek, and cook. This book does a great job of tying the 2 together. It not… " Full Review >
-- , bryangrenn.blogspot.com
"Cooking for Geeks is all I could desire from a book about food and cooking. It has interesting facts and stories, like that of "miracle berries", and interviews which introduce the reader to the life of people who work with food (a bit different from my day). Some scientific facts as well, but I'm not much into science, so I can't really appreciate this part. And the most important - plenty of images and descriptions which make my mouth water at the mere thought of them - I stopped reading and went to the kitchen to forage for some food more than once while reading the most inspiring chapters." Full Review >
-- , common-racoon.livejournal.com
"You know those outstanding programming books? The ones where writer's style is clear, informative, and engaging? Where the scope of coverage is neither too narrow nor too broad? Where you can just sense that the author is a talented and enthusiastic expert in his/her field? Where you just get caught up in the learning process, and hate to put the book down?" Full Review >
-- , blog.gregoryjwilliams.com
"Recently, Nathan Myhrvold of Microsoft fame came out with a 6 volume, 2,400 page series on the science cooking with a list price of $625. I have no intention of purchasing or reading THAT, but after reading Cooking for Geeks, I can’t imagine how much more Myhrvold’s book could possibly cover." Full Review >
-- , appcoder.wordpress.com/
"I jumped at the chance to participate in the O'Reilly Blogger Review Program when it was offered this past fall. I fully intended to pick a technology book - maybe about a new language or framework but Cooking for Geeks caught my eye. Most of the cooking books I've… " Full Review >
-- , www.matthewcuba.net
"When’s the last time you did a chemistry experiment? Truth is, most of us do chemistry experiments more often than we imagine. Every time you try tweaking a recipe or try to cook something new, you’re doing a chemistry experiment." Full Review >
-- , techinch.com/
"Cooking for Geeks is equal parts well-rounded recipe collection, safety manual, food chemistry textbook, and manifesto for the Maker/DIY/Geek philosophy. The main content of the book is centered around the first three, but Potter’s preface, introductory chapter and the many interviews with experts convey the underlying theme: getting under the… " Full Review >
-- , normd.com/wp
"Cooking for Geeks is the cooking book for the rest of us. It is the book that was written for those of us who do not naturally feel comfortable in the kitchen. It is the book that was written for those of us who want to know; Why does that happen? and Why do I need to do that in a certain order?" Full Review >
-- , www.periodicramblings.com
"Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food by Jeff Potter is not your average cook book. There are many great recipes covering everything from a Chocolate Port Cake to Duck Confit Sugo. What is unique about this … Continue reading →" Full Review >
-- , kimmurphey.com/
"This is not a cookbook. If you're looking for a new collection of recipes, this is not the book for you. If you like shows like Good Eats or enjoy seeing how food is prepared and served, you'll almost certainly love Cooking for Geeks. If you like experimenting in the kitchen and knowing why food turns out the way it does, pick up this book!" Full Review >
-- , paschott.wordpress.com/
"When you think about geeks, you rarely think about them cooking; most people instantly imagine them with pizzas or crisps, not in front of ovens. Jeff Potter, the author, explains why most geeks are shy of kitchens. Being a geek himself, he explains cooking in software development terms; compiling food, defining vegetable variables, overclocking the oven, and looking at recipes as source code. He explains everything with a sense of humour that is a joy to read. This book had me hooked right from the beginning, so when he started to talk about cooking with stuff that can kill you; liquid nitrogen ice cream or electrocuted hot dogs, I couldn't put this book down. " Full Review >
-- , packetfury.net
"Cooking for Geeks is one of the most fun books I have read in a long time. I don't get lost in the kitchen, but I'm certainly no great chef either. What this book does that is different from typical cookbooks is that instead of presenting a list of recipes, it talks about the science behind combining foods to create tasty dishes." Full Review >
-- , matthewhelmke.net
