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Rating: 
Summary: Not The Ultimate
Review: I was not happy when I started reading this book. The key to this book is the word "encyclopedia", and the absence of the word "cookbook" in the title. As a glossy coffee table book, it is barely adequate; as a cookbook full of chocolate recipes, it is worthless. Much of the material in this book has been recycled from an equally reprehensible book "Chocolate Ecstasy". The first part of this book is a rather standard (and forgettable) regurgitation about chocolate: history, processing, taste, commercial brands, and physiology. By and large, this is standard material cribbed mostly from other books. It only has value if you have not read other books about chocolate. If you approach this book as a coffee table book full of glossy, beautiful pictures, it is not all that good. Many pictures (perhaps up to 1/3, but I did not really count) are of poor quality and have a rust-colored tinge to them (whether this is from the printing, badly lit photos, or whatever, I do not know). The recipes are so short and inadequate as to be laughable. Many complex, difficult recipes are casually tossed off in half a dozen sentences. The recipe instructions seemed to have been carefully edited down to make sure that each recipe plus photos takes up exactly one page (heaven forbid should a recipe occupy 2 pages). The mistakes, errors, and editorial inconsistencies are so numerous as to be not worth listing here (for example, there is no such thing as a "33 x 13 x 9-inch jelly roll pan", or a "30 x 12 x 8 inch jelly roll pan"). The recipes clearly have not been through a test kitchen, and the author uses a bewildering array of non-standard baking pans (unless these, too, are typographical errors; with this book, it is hard to be sure). If you are curious about how those elegant chocolate desserts are created, then this book will satisfy your curiosity. Every recipe starts with a picture (something I wish more cookbooks about chocolate would emulate), gives you the ingredients, and a rough description about the steps involved to make it. If you want good recipes that you can do in your home kitchen, look elsewhere. The rating I give is as a coffee table book, not as a cookbook; as a cookbook, I would give a much lower rating. The kindest thing I can think of to say about this book is that it is a fairly interesting collection of recipes that will have you rifling through your other chocolate cookbooks, looking for a similar recipe.
Rating:
Summary: Not The Ultimate
Review: I was not happy when I started reading this book. The key to this book is the word "encyclopedia", and the absence of the word "cookbook" in the title. As a glossy coffee table book, it is barely adequate; as a cookbook full of chocolate recipes, it is worthless. Much of the material in this book has been recycled from an equally reprehensible book "Chocolate Ecstasy". The first part of this book is a rather standard (and forgettable) regurgitation about chocolate: history, processing, taste, commercial brands, and physiology. By and large, this is standard material cribbed mostly from other books. It only has value if you have not read other books about chocolate. If you approach this book as a coffee table book full of glossy, beautiful pictures, it is not all that good. Many pictures (perhaps up to 1/3, but I did not really count) are of poor quality and have a rust-colored tinge to them (whether this is from the printing, badly lit photos, or whatever, I do not know). The recipes are so short and inadequate as to be laughable. Many complex, difficult recipes are casually tossed off in half a dozen sentences. The recipe instructions seemed to have been carefully edited down to make sure that each recipe plus photos takes up exactly one page (heaven forbid should a recipe occupy 2 pages). The mistakes, errors, and editorial inconsistencies are so numerous as to be not worth listing here (for example, there is no such thing as a "33 x 13 x 9-inch jelly roll pan", or a "30 x 12 x 8 inch jelly roll pan"). The recipes clearly have not been through a test kitchen, and the author uses a bewildering array of non-standard baking pans (unless these, too, are typographical errors; with this book, it is hard to be sure). If you are curious about how those elegant chocolate desserts are created, then this book will satisfy your curiosity. Every recipe starts with a picture (something I wish more cookbooks about chocolate would emulate), gives you the ingredients, and a rough description about the steps involved to make it. If you want good recipes that you can do in your home kitchen, look elsewhere. The rating I give is as a coffee table book, not as a cookbook; as a cookbook, I would give a much lower rating. The kindest thing I can think of to say about this book is that it is a fairly interesting collection of recipes that will have you rifling through your other chocolate cookbooks, looking for a similar recipe.
Rating: 
Summary: Scrumptious.
Review: This book contains a myriad of scrumptious recipes that work. It is also full of fascinating information on chocolate and its history. Moreover, it is delightful (and delicious) to just look at.
Rating:
Summary: A near-definitive chocolate guide
Review: This book is, far and away, the best comprehensive chocolate reference. The depth of information on such esoterica as different bean varieties and different national confectioners is far greater than its competition and a testament to thorough research. Quibbles? The recipes, although good, and different (a definite plus) in general, seem to have a leaning for alcohol, especially in the more decadent desserts. Having *some* alcoholic dessert entries is fine, but geez, a dessert doesn't *have* to have alcohol in it to be sinful! Particularly with chocolate, where alcohol is indeed a tricky mix and most desserts do better without it. Of more serious concern is the ubiquity of self-rising flour. This makes it very hard to tune the recipe, especially, if, like me, you consider using self-rising flour a travesty to "real" baking. However, these are minor picks and overall the book is a must-buy.
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