Cookbooks are one of those things I just don't get.
A book full of recipes? You've got to be kidding.
If you can't figure out how to cook using basic ingredients, standard tools and techniques and size meals based on nutritional requirements you need to work on that. Not read recipes, or turn your gaze upon photos of doctored dishes.
Well, you have to start somewhere. I didn't learn to cook, really, until my 30's. And cookbooks (and cooking shows) were very important.
I have a few cookbooks (Leanne Brown's is very good, by the way) that are general, like "how to cook without a book", that teach techniques.
I'm a pretty good cook now, 13 years later. But if you literally don't know how to cook, and never had - then you start with recipes - and they will also teach technique along the way.
The best cookbooks include very simply recipes and more complex ones too. I think one of the recipes in this book is for pierogies. Now, I'm seriously NEVER going to make my own dough to make pierogies. But someone else might want to do that.
For beginners, aside from techniques, it's also learning what flavors go well together (spices, etc.) That's where having cookbooks can be better than on-line. A lot of it is your own preference, but I find that well tested cookbooks (like from Cook's Illustrated) always nail the techniques and flavors, where as something I might pull up from Google could fall flat.
The vast majority of my food these days is stuff that I "wing", but I've been trying to incorporate "recipes" 2-3 times a month, and I must say - it's a hit. New flavors, new foods, great tastes.
