Rating: 
Summary: Comment on review saying the book was "unprofessional"
Review: According to the reviewer Ramanujam Rajagopal (Seattle, WA United States):
"If you have a college education and a sense of humor that transcends pop culture, I suggest you look elsewhere for good reading."
I do have a college education: undergrad Cornell/grad school MIT. I also have a marvelous sense of humor.
I thought the book was extremely well done. Not perfect, but heck, neither am I.
Rating: 
Summary: Look Elsewhere for a Better Book
Review: As one reviewer pointed out there are a few pearls of wisdom (the science of a good gravy) in this otherwise wordy and fairly patronizing book. I was looking for a book to explain the small nuances of how to improve a particular recipe or tweak an ingredient to bring out its fullest potential but I what I found was pretty much a garbled and condescending chemistry lesson -- and not a very good one at that. Wolke's side comments under "Techspeak" were both confusing and grating. This attitude is something I put up with while going through engineering school but I won't put up with it on my free time with a subject matter I love. Half-way into the book, I just couldn't take it anymore. This is quite a shame because Wolke is a technical consultant for one of the best cooking magazines around -- Cook's Illustrated. Thankfully for us, though, Cook's Illustrated has someone other than Wolke do the writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good explanations and subtle humor
Review: As with his other books, Robert Wolke does an outstanding job of explaining the mechanics of our world in easy to grasp terms. He includes subtle humor where appropriate. In this book he gives insight into many things that will make you a better cook, and save you money. Learn about what is behind much of the marketing hype of many food items. This is a great way to become more informed and enjoy the process as well.
Rating:
Summary: Answers to questions I didn't even know I had...
Review: Excellent writing! I used to love the sciences growing up but now I've entered the "real world" complete with a sit-all-day-looking-at-a-computer-screen job. Because of that, I have recently found cooking (something to invigorate my mind and senses in the evening). Wolke's book is the perfect combination of both cooking and science, with just the right amount of humor and sarcasm. I just finished it last night and am already online to buy his other works. Happy reading!
Rating:
Summary: Answers to questions I didn't even know I had...
Review: Excellent writing! I used to love the sciences growing up but now I've entered the "real world" complete with a sit-all-day-looking-at-a-computer-screen job. Because of that, I have recently found cooking (something to invigorate my mind and senses in the evening). Wolke's book is the perfect combination of both cooking and science, with just the right amount of humor and sarcasm. I just finished it last night and am already online to buy his other works. Happy reading!
Rating:
Summary: What More Can You Ask For?
Review: God I love it when some one can make me understand a concept without patronizing or condensending to me. Wolke puts my least favorite subject - science - into the palm of my hand with a generous and often surprising amount of humour and insight. This is not a book for the superstitious (those of you who believe microwaves will make your brocolli radioactive know who I'm taking about) - rather it is for those curious among us who simply have to know but don't know where to get the answers. Well, this is the place.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Kitchen Reference
Review: Howard Hillman's "Kitchen Science" and Robert Wolke's "What Einstein Told His Cook" are two books of largely similar information. Their titles foreshadow their different writing styles.Both are very informative and worthy of keeping as a reference. Hillman uses a question and answer format and is direct and succinct. Wolke also uses the question/answer format, but he has more lively style, and the lengthier answers are rendered with much wit and humor. For the efficiency-mined reader, Hillman's book gives more bang. Wolke's book gives more reading pleasure. Interestingly, they sometimes disagree. Hillman says that most alcohol added to dishes while cooking is lost due to evaporation, while Wolke maintains, with a more nuanced explanation, that the anywhere from 4 to 49 % of the added alcohol might remain... Take your pick. I enjoyed both.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Kitchen Reference
Review: Howard Hillman's "Kitchen Science" and Robert Wolke's "What Einstein Told His Cook" are two books of largely similar information. Their titles foreshadow their different writing styles. Both are very informative and worthy of keeping as a reference. Hillman uses a question and answer format and is direct and succinct. Wolke also uses the question/answer format, but he has more lively style, and the lengthier answers are rendered with much wit and humor. For the efficiency-mined reader, Hillman's book gives more bang. Wolke's book gives more reading pleasure. Interestingly, they sometimes disagree. Hillman says that most alcohol added to dishes while cooking is lost due to evaporation, while Wolke maintains, with a more nuanced explanation, that the anywhere from 4 to 49 % of the added alcohol might remain... Take your pick. I enjoyed both.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Kitchen Reference
Review: Howard Hillman's "Kitchen Science" and Robert Wolke's "What Einstein Told His Cook" are two books of largely similar information. Their titles foreshadow their different writing styles. Both are very informative and worthy of keeping as a reference. Hillman uses a question and answer format and is direct and succinct. Wolke also uses the question/answer format, but he has more lively style, and the lengthier answers are rendered with much wit and humor. For the efficiency-mined reader, Hillman's book gives more bang. Wolke's book gives more reading pleasure. Interestingly, they sometimes disagree. Hillman says that most alcohol added to dishes while cooking is lost due to evaporation, while Wolke maintains, with a more nuanced explanation, that the anywhere from 4 to 49 % of the added alcohol might remain... Take your pick. I enjoyed both.
Rating:
Summary: I haven't even read it yet
Review: I just received this book and I have only glanced through it and I love it already! I plan to read it once I can get it away from my boyfriend!
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