As an aspiring chef, i actually dont rely on many cookbooks and hence haven't bought one in quite some time. And sadly, its a bit of a dying art thanks to online recipes on the internet.  But I was at the Los Angeles Time Book Festival last sunday, mainly to meet some of the top chef contestants and Padma Lakshami who gave a cooking demo (which didn't involve much cooking since everything was basically made out for her ahead of time).  But in order to get these B list celebs to sign, i needed to purchase the top chef cookbook. not that i mind much, i am afterall a HUGE top chef fan (and have major crushes on Ilan and CJ from seasons past).  so.....What does this little new book include? For one, a bunch of recipes from the episodes. What I dont understand is that they published recipes that were not  "winners" at all. As in, something must have been wrong with them so why publish them?  And for the winning recipes, its just a bit hard for your average cook to get a hold of Poi and Poke (both native hawaiian ingredients).  Plus, i am not sure these recipes will produce a replica of the winning dish.  A true chef doesn't need recipes and most of the dishes the chefs on the show need to do are improvised because they have no idea what the restrictions are.  So hence they dont measure and they may forget to tell the publishers about a certain ingredient or technique they used in creating the dish.  recipes aside, the book includes full out episode details and some secrets about the top chef kitchen (like their pantry staples and how the kitchen is laid out).  Theres in depth bios and interviews with the judges and former contestants, and some fun games like "top coif" where you match the signature hairstyle with its chef (and from this, I now know one of the requirments for being on top chef is getting a faux-hawk).  Its quirky but pricey for a not too useful cookbook.  If you love top chef, you will really enjoy the book. Otherwise, just get classic Julia Child book that really IS useful and just TiVO Top Chef on Bravo.