Off the Shelf: Comprehensive Cookbook with a Home Cook Focus

One of my biggest weaknesses is cookbooks.  I am perfectly happy to read them like a book, and I love all kinds - new, old, whatever.  Last weekend I came across the Taste of Home Cookbook Revised Edition and it was on SUPER sale, so I picked it up (from what I can tell, there is a new edition out, so they must have been trying to get rid of the old ones).  I haven't made anything from it yet, but this book looks AWESOME.  Most of the recipes come from home cooks (some come from the Taste of Home Test Kitchen), so the recipes use common ingredients and basic techniques - nothing particularly strange or complicated.  The book (really it's a 3-ring binder) is broken into different sections - Appetizers & Beverages, Vegetables, Poultry, etc. - and each section includes its own index, introductory material, and a variety of recipes.  For some recipes, they provide variations on a theme and include "Time-Saver," "Light," and "Serves 2" options.  The book provides a wealth of information in addition to recipes.  There is a whole "Kitchen Basics" section that includes everything from knife skills to storage times for a variety of foods, and within each section there is information about that specific type of food and tips interspersed with the recipes.  Taste of Home has an entire separate Baking Book, but the Cookbook provides tons of baking and dessert information and recipes.  There are sections ranging from Quick Breads to Cakes to Candies.  Since my background in baking/desserts is very limited, I am looking forward to using this book as a guide (one day I WILL make cream puffs from scratch!).  Due to its scope, the book doesn't go into a huge amount of detail on any one topic, but for a wide-ranging, easy-to-follow kitchen text, it seems like a good option.