I must admit I'm a real newbie when it comes to Thai food so I was looking for something simple. I went out and bought three books -
Thai Food,
The Food of Thailand: A Journey for Food Lovers (Food of the World) and of course this one, The Big Book of Thai Curries.
Straight away I realised that "Thai Food" is a very big and complex book. It's not for the beginner and the recipes are rather advanced with no real guidance on where to find difficult ingredients. "The Food of Thailand" is a good book for anyone wanting to do a little more than just curries with many basic and advanced recipes from across regions of Thailand (anything from breads, soups, starters all the way through to deserts).
The Big Book of Thai Curries, however, is the perfect beginners book for anyone just starting out with the cuisine. Thai curries are all based on pastes and the book has recipes for 8 key ones right at the very start. Then in the recipes it will refer to which paste you need to use. I must admit I had no idea there were this many Thai curries, but each of them sound absolutely delicious. I like to cook for friends and don't really have any time in the week, so when they come round on a Saturday/Sunday night this is what I'll be using for the foreseeable future.
I rarely get compelled to write reviews but this book is worthy of one. Unpretentious and authentic - highly recommended.