This soup cookbook was a pretty big disappointment to me, since I thought the New York Times moniker indicated one of the best. Lots of recipes, to be sure, but not nearly as helpful or useful in expanding my soup-cooking repertoir as, say, "Is It Soup Yet?".

I have had this book as my companion over the past decade and have few cookbooks as genuinely valuable in my collection. It is a treasure of wonderful instruction, education, history, and the all-around pleasures of making these most elemental of foods. The New York Times Bread and Soup Cookbook brings into my home the abiltiy to artfully present many forms of breads and a wonderful array of soups as mainstays of heartwarming family traditions, ethnic and regional explorations, and gourmet elements for entertaining specialties.