Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1

Like many others, I picked up this book as a result of having read Julie and Julia. I was intrigued, to say the least, by the life of Julia Child, and needed to explore her great accomplishment. The opportunity for food adventure sang its siren song.
I have prepared over fifty recipes in the past few months. All have tasted very good. The simple dishes, such as Buttered Peas and her directions for Saute'ed Mushrooms, are quite clear and easy to follow. There are several dishes, such as her Apple Tart, which are good recipes, which I will adjust to suit my tastes when I make them in the future. This is not a critique, as taste is very subjective, and I, for example, don't care for extremely sweet desserts.
The chapter on Sauces is heavenly, giving excellent instructions that make preparing tricky egg and butter based sauces almost foolproof.
The more involved recipes - yes, including her Boeuf Bourguignon - can be a bit vague. In that recipe, it's not clear ahead of time that you will be picking all of the sliced carrots and onions out of the cooked meat and bacon. I will be using a mesh bag next time! And just dredge your beef in some flour before you brown it, or add the flour to the cooked beef in the casserole, and let it brown a bit, before you put it into the oven. That step of taking the pan in and out of the oven every four minutes, to brown the flour and seal the meat, wastes a lot of energy, increases the possibility of burning yourself, and did not result in a rich, spoon coating sauce. I had to add some cooked flour to the sauce at the end, to change it from being rather watery.
There is also quite a bit of jumping around between pages. The Boeuf Bourgignon recipe itself, for example, involves the recipe for Basic Stock, Brown Stock, Saute'ed Mushrooms, Brown-braised Onions, and the information page on preparing onions, (as the recipe just says "peel", and usually that involves a quick dip into boiling water, but, without specifics, I was concerned as to any effect on cooking time).
The depth of flavor makes this dish a delight, but I have made copious notes in my copy of changes that will save time without changing the end result.
This is a book that I would heartily recommend to anyone, with the caution that someone with no experience in the kitchen may become somewhat frustrated with the complicated directions. Because Mastering the Art of French Cooking is intended to teach skills, those who look to this as training, and follow the recipes as learning experiences, will gain a great foundation in the culinary arts. People who have spent a lot of time in their kitchens, whipping up dishes since they could reach a pot on the stove, may do best to read through a recipe, and then prepare the dish as they feel is practical.
And I must say to Julie Powell, "Great Job! I don't know that I could accomplish what you did, even in two years."

Since these didn't come up in the search, I also recommend: Classic Dishes Made Easy, Piepenbrock/Fischer; The Classic Italian Cookbook, Marcella Hazen; and The Essential Dessert Cookbook, Bay BooksShow Less