Customer Rating: 
Summary: An indispensible culinary reference and learning experience
Comment: It's a book, yes, and it does have recipes. But it's not a cookbook. It's an incredible tome of reference material; there's a huge section on various ingredients and cooking implements, right down to what kind of metal is best on which pans for what purpose and the optimum construction of spatulae.
It contains a brief rundown of the evolution of classical French cooking, from which a great deal of contemporary sauces emerged. The in-depth information on various kinds of stocks, how to make them, the best way to alter their consistency, the best cuts to use and how using bones instead of meat will change the character of the broth, ways to cook with meat that's been used to make stock so it doesn't go to waste, is just incredible. I'm excited about STOCK. Even for me that's something.
The greatest thing about this book is the depth in which it covers... basically everything. Techniques for many, many sauces are covered, and almost always contain several subsections detailing the differences in technique between making the sauce with different kinds of fat, different stocks, thickeners, ingredients... the book is nearly 600 pages of tightly-packed information, and the only pictures are on about 20 (unnumbered) glossy sheets near the beginning, detailing several very useful and generic step-by-step examples of different sauces, including red Thai curry, caramel, beurre blanc, Bernaise and others.
The even deeper value here is the excellent introduction to the general spices and methods used in various cultures as the basis for their cooking. While you might not realize exactly what you're looking at unless you have some previous experience, assuming you've cooked at length in any of the cultures whose sauces are described, you'll realize you can adapt many of the ingredients used in their sauces to gain a better understanding of their cuisines in general.
If you like to cook, you'll like this book. If you LOVE to cook, you NEED this book -- unless it's actually your profession, but even then I do believe it'd still be a useful reference. As an amateur but enthusiastic kitchen-dweller, I adore this, and it will keep me cooking and experimenting with new sauces and dishes for a VERY long time to come.
I paid a good deal more at a brick and mortar retailer, and am fine with that; it was worth every penny. The price you get here makes it an absolutely essential purchase.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Sauce Book
Comment: The best sauce book ever written. Good for average to above average cooks. May be a little confusing to the beginer.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This book should be in everyone's kitchen.
Comment: This book is a great tool for those who are attending a culinary school for it provides an in depth understanding of sauce making. To quote one of my Culinary professors, "...this book is a must for every kitchen's cooking library". If you want to become a good sauce maker, you need to read this book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Saucy & Nice
Comment: Bought the book as a Christmas gift. It looks wonderful and I hope to be the beneficiary of the recipient's learning!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Too Much Info for An Average Cook!
Comment: I should have respected a few other reviewers and not purchase this book. After I got it, with "Cooking" by the same author, I returned it because it was "too much." The "Cooking" book by the same author was okay, but if you add this book with "Cooking," it is overkill. "Cooking" by itself is good unless you are "big" into sauces. I was not impressed, and I am a "good" cook but not with a lot of time that "Sauces" required to get the sauces right.
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