Rating: 
Summary: An excellent field-guide style reference
Review: As a professional cheesemonger, I find this book indispensable. Although the layout can be a bit confusing, and the index is rife with inaccurate page numbers, the content is so strong that I highly recommend it to other professionals and food aficionados. One excellent point that is made several places in the book is that cheese can be enjoyed at different stages of maturity. In fact, the captions under photographs of cheese will often comment on how long the cheese was matured, or better yet, how it compares to what is usually eaten by the locals. Careful recommendations are made for pairing the cheeses with French wines, which is always helpful. I return to this book time and time again, either for reference, or to ferret out the minutae that dwell in every entry. If only we had a reference of this quality for all the traditional foods of the world!
Rating: 
Summary: A great reference
Review: As mentioned in previous reviews, this book does a great job of referencing hundreds of cheeses from France, providing photographs, descriptions, and wine recommendations. In these areas, it does a fantastic job. I've learned a lot reading it and I can't wait to take it with me on my next trip to France. I wish the book gave more guidance on the tastes of the different cheeses and how you might select them. For example, if I like Brie and wanted to try a different nice mellow soft cheese, what might be recommended? This book isn't organized to help answer questions like that. Overall, an important book for anybody serious about cheese.
Rating:
Summary: A great reference
Review: As mentioned in previous reviews, this book does a great job of referencing hundreds of cheeses from France, providing photographs, descriptions, and wine recommendations. In these areas, it does a fantastic job. I've learned a lot reading it and I can't wait to take it with me on my next trip to France. I wish the book gave more guidance on the tastes of the different cheeses and how you might select them. For example, if I like Brie and wanted to try a different nice mellow soft cheese, what might be recommended? This book isn't organized to help answer questions like that. Overall, an important book for anybody serious about cheese.
Rating:
Summary: Not just a handbook - a cultural record
Review: French and Italian cheese experts are not easily impressed but here is a book that even they are getting excited about. The quality of the photography and reproduction are unsurpassed and is complemented by the expertise displayed in the content and presentation of the accompanying information. This is not just a hand-book, it is an historical and cultural record. If the bureaucrats have there way, then the export of most of these unpasteurised cheeses will be banned so, for those of you who love real cheese but cannot get to Europe to eat the ones they make there, buy this book and drool!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful photographs!
Review: I am a big fan of this book since the publication of the original Japanese version titled 'Encyclopedia des Fromages (this includes cheeses from other 15 countries)'. 'French Cheeses' did not only closely follow the original text but also have added wine recommendations, which are very useful.Photographs are beatufifully printed in this version, too. The only problem I have is the large names of 'foreword writer' and 'consultant' on the cover (and the authors' names do not appear on the front). As far as I have compared the two versions, I have not encountered any differences in the text between them. So, what the consultant contributed? Are these 'big names' added because the publisher thought Japanese-written French cheese book would not look attractive? I want to hear from the publisher on this. Anyway, this is a great book for cheese lovers.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful photographs!
Review: I am a big fan of this book since the publication of the original Japanese version titled 'Encyclopedia des Fromages (this includes cheeses from other 15 countries)'. 'French Cheeses' did not only closely follow the original text but also have added wine recommendations, which are very useful.Photographs are beatufifully printed in this version, too. The only problem I have is the large names of 'foreword writer' and 'consultant' on the cover (and the authors' names do not appear on the front). As far as I have compared the two versions, I have not encountered any differences in the text between them. So, what the consultant contributed? Are these 'big names' added because the publisher thought Japanese-written French cheese book would not look attractive? I want to hear from the publisher on this. Anyway, this is a great book for cheese lovers.
Rating:
Summary: WOW
Review: I collect field guides and what attracts me to some is the clever layout and design. This volume is in a class by itself. And the text was so informative that i could not put it dowm.
Should receive 6 stars out of 5.
Rating:
Summary: Great reference book with lively, vivid pictures
Review: I used this book for a report on blue cheeses. Although I enjoy and appreciate cheese already, this book really expanded my knowledge about French cheeses.
Rating:
Summary: A handbook. Beautiful and informative, but hard to use.
Review: If you know something about French Cheese, and don't mind poring through the whole book to search out generic information, such as the basic cheesemaking processes, you will find this book rewarding. If you are looking for an introduction and recommendations for where to start, this book won't help. The photos are beautiful, and the desriptions of the individual cheeses are very authoritative and complete. But, the bewildering array of cheeses in this book will not help you much as you stand before the cheese counter in the better French supermarkets or your favorite fromagerie trying to choose which of the 500 or so cheeses to eat with today's meals. After living in France for three months, I now can appreciate what this book offers. But, in addition to the "field guide" type of descriptions, I would have appreciated some help in learning how to buy and store cheese (such as why the softer cheeses should be stored on a bed of straw in the shops). There are delightful snippets of information included, or should I say buried, throughout the book, and the photos are truly wonderful. But, for anyone getting started, I would choose a book such as "Cheese Primer" by Steven Jenkins.
Rating:
Summary: For reference more than "reading"
Review: Living in France, I am always making the acquaintance of cheeses I had never before known existed. I always scurry to find this book, and look up the tasty morcel I've just consumed. It's great for learning the basics about various cheeses -- and, as noted by other reviewers -- the photos are divine, but it's not the sort of book one takes into the bath to pore over for hours at a time. Put it on your shelf next to your dictionary and thesaurus; it's that useful!
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