This book did for my baking what "The Way to Cook" did for my cooking. I prefer Julia Childs's writing style to Dorie Greenspan's, mainly because she's funnier. Ms. Greenspan certainly does a fine job, though. Her explanations are extremely clear and encouraging. It's nice when someone includes so many asides along the lines of --- "Don't freak out when blank happens, just..." I would have thought I had ruined my brioche dough and my croissant dough without these encouraging little remarks. The photography is truly beautiful, too. It's the sort of cookbook you want to have open in your kitchen at all times just to look at the pictures.