Rating: 
Summary: authentic,easy to cook, and delicious recipes
Review: Every recipe I've tried so far has been delicious and simple to make. I even have my Thai and Laotian coworkers sample my cooking and they are amazed that I know how to make such authentic dishes. (To be 100% authentic, increase the chili dosage by 30%!) It may not be a nice, glossy, coffee table book with plenty of pictures (none at all), but the recipes speak for themselves.
Rating:
Summary: plainly great!
Review: Great intruction; lots of flexibility on each recipe to suit your likes. Includes main dishes, sides, beverages and deserts! Great glosary with detail explanation of ingredients and substitutes. You will need a good source of oriental food products. For the real oriental food fan; not for the 10 minute cook. I have tried several dishes from Pad Thai, thai-sweet&sour, ginger dishes, cilantro-ribs, spring rolls; mint-shrimp, all terrific! Great value!
Rating:
Summary: first thai cookbook
Review: I bought this book because I love thai food and I thought it's time for me to learn how to cook it rather than eating out all the time. This book is great. There are some ingredients that are hard to find in regular supermarkets like shrimp paste or lemongrass but easy to find in online ethnic stores (go to thaitemple.com or ethnicgrocer.com for example). I look forward to cooking from this book because I know that it's always going to turn out great. One thing though is the portions are kind of small for two people so you should increase the ingredients by one third or more.
Rating:
Summary: authentic, casual, excellent
Review: i enjoyed this book thoroughly-- i searched for approximately 8 years before finding something that even came close to the dishes that my mother prepared for me. the ingredient listing is a blessing for those unfamiliar with the variety of spices and pastes, as well as those who only know the thai equivalent.i am in complete agreement about the authenticity of these recipes. their only failing is that they require more chilis to be truly "thai." otherwise, all items are native and truly used by thais and laos! while i agree that the index could have contained more cross-references, the regional categories were extremely useful to me, personally, because all of my mother's recipes were located in one chapter. :) i realize that this isn't convenient for most readers, but it does demonstrate the particular culinary style of each area. to someone who simply wants a cookbook without history or explanation of certain cultural influences on the world of thai cooking, this may prove troublesome, but for those who want a bite of culture, it works.
Rating:
Summary: One of the two Thai cookbooks I count on
Review: I have visited Thailand umpteen times and have lived there for two years, and I'm planning to go back permanently fairly soon. I have gone through a number of Thai cookbooks and this is one of the two which survived the winnowing process. It's a really good book and it's an interesting idea to list the recipes by region. Another resource for the aspiring Thai cook is the online Thai grocery store. You can find it in Google. You can find a lot of ingredients there that may not be available in (say) Cleveland or Austin. I found that I was able to make a tom yam kung with surprising ease, using one of their "instant tom yam" supplies.
Rating:
Summary: This book never leaves my side
Review: I just recently returned to live in Thailand, and I use this book every darned day. The recipes are clear, easy and delicious. I especially recommend Nancie's Sweet and Sour Pork, which is made with cauliflower, cucumbers, tomatoes and pork as the main ingredients -- it tastes like no other sweet and sour dish you have ever had, and my friend from Isaan (NE Thailand) goes wild over it every time. Even a dish as simple as fried rice with pork gets a thorough explanation, and comes out wonderful. I look at other Thai cookbooks, but this one is my bible. Highest recommendation!
Rating:
Summary: This book never leaves my side
Review: I just recently returned to live in Thailand, and I use this book every darned day. The recipes are clear, easy and delicious. I especially recommend Nancie's Sweet and Sour Pork, which is made with cauliflower, cucumbers, tomatoes and pork as the main ingredients -- it tastes like no other sweet and sour dish you have ever had, and my friend from Isaan (NE Thailand) goes wild over it every time. Even a dish as simple as fried rice with pork gets a thorough explanation, and comes out wonderful. I look at other Thai cookbooks, but this one is my bible. Highest recommendation!
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended!
Review: I picked this book up on a whim and have not stopped reading it and cooking from it for two weeks. The recipes are incredibly easy and straightforward, but definitely as good as anything you can get in any thai restaurant I've eaten in (and I've eaten in them from San Francisco to Atlanta). I've always wanted to be able to make Larb, yum nam toke and just about everything else that is in this book, and every recipe I've tried has been wonderful. I agree with some of the other reviewers: you can add more chili. Though it has no pictures, I find the simple, friendly text very soothing late night reading and I have already read this book several times more than my fancier cookbooks. I recommend it to novices and experts.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not as great as everyone else says it is
Review: I purchased this book after reading the others' reviews on how great it was, and to a certain degree those reviews ARE accurate: good Thai recipes, good explanations for each recipe, clear directions, optimized for an American kitchen etc. It didn't have a bunch of my favorite recipes, though, and I'm back on Amazon looking for something to fill the gap. However, where this book REALLY lacks is organization. The author decided to split recipes up by geographic origin (i.e. Northern Thailand, etc.) which is a good, but she FAILS to give a master list of recipes and categories. In each section you have appetizer, entrees, and desserts all mixed together with no delination between them. The alphabetic index at the back is OK, but not great. This book is a good introduction to Thai cooking, and for that the price can't be beat, but if you want something more comprehensive and better laid out then look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, easy to follow and simple ingredients 4 Pad Thai
Review: I really like this cookbook. It is one of the best that I have, and it is the ONLY Thai cookbook I have. So far I have made 10 dishes (including Pad Thai and Pad See Ewe) and they have all turned out great. I haven't been to a Thai restaurant since I've bought this book! I like McDermott's easy, simple style. When possible, she lists substitutions for hard-to-find ingredients. There is also a complete glossary in the back of the book. You will especially enjoy the recipe for pad thai because it is simplified (no hard-to-find ingredients), and yet it tastes great. I picked this book because of the reviews that I found here at Amazon and if you are looking for a good Thai cookbook, you won't be disappointed.
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