Big Cook Book

I went to Borders today and got a book called The Professional Chef by the Culinary Institute of America. It's this 3-inch-thick book, full of cooking basics and recipes. It's very educational. I learned how to cook watching my mom cook and also trying to recreate things that I ate and thought were good. The problem is, I rarely follow recipes and am always making adjustment to get the taste right. I hope "studying" this book will help me get the basics right and improve my cooking!