Kitchen Confidential

Kitchen Confidential was really fun. The audiobook happens to be narrated by Bourdain, too.

I found 'The Prize', a history of the development of the oil industry, by Daniel Yergin, to be fascinating. Perhaps closer to your request, 'Kitchen Confidential' by Anthony Bourdain comes the closest to describing life in a restaurant kitchen in a very entertaining way. (Source: Was once a dishwasher and cook in a couple places.) If you like Bourdain, his friend, Michael Ruhlman has several books on being, and becoming, a chef.

Editing: Editor of Genius by A. Scott Berg >>> Max Perkins was the editor of Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, F Scott Fitzgerald, and other famous 20th century writers. Great, great, book. Bartending: Cosmopolitan by Toby Cecchini >>> Very well-written memoir of a bartender in New York in the late 1980s. He invented the Cosmo in NYC while working at the Odeon — on a lark, without thinking much of it. The drink took off, but I think he's still a working bartender in NYC. Cooking: Kitchen Confidential by Bourdain Painting: Interviews with Francis Bacon by David Sylvester Music: Meet me in the Bathroom by Lizzy Goodman Tech: Chaos Monkeys by AGM And seconding swyx's recommendations for all things Michael Lewis, who can spin a good yarn about any profession — whether it's baseball managers, junk bond salesmen, or high frequency traders, etc.…

Hamilton, Gabrielle. “Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef.” (2011). This is a chef’s journey in the same general category of Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential” (2000) or Bill Buford’s “Heat” (2007). Before I had my current fabulous career, I was an out of work marketing / web designer and needed to make money. The latter two books were my ‘mentors’ for dealing with working in professional kitchens without any experience. I recommend all three for their insights into the world of professional chefs and food hospitality. And, of course, they all make you hungry. Haha

Kitchen Confidential seconded. The account is surprisingly honest and also funny. Lots of tips on how to manage a business, how not to start a venture, now to keep on trying after failure, team interactions etc.