When buying a french cookbook, one can choose from wonderful derivative sources (for example, an American popularist of french cooking such as Julia Childs, or a Betty Crocker clone) or visit with a text written by a master native-born French chef for those who wish to learn how to cook authentic French cuisine from one of the top chefs in France. Interestingly, the same phenenomena exists with books on piano-playing. There are certainly Betty Crocker-style books written by marginally talented pianists who tailor their texts to aficionados who don't wish to think too much about piano-playing theories and methods. Then there are the books written by the real "chefs" or "chiefs" of piano-playing, like Josef Hofmann, who along with Rachmaninoff and a few others, ranked as the superlative pianists of the 20th Century. What Liszt was to the 19th Century, Hofmann was in the 20th Century. In Piano Playing the reader is treated to high-level advice on many of the most important aspects of piano playing. To be sure, unless the reader has had a high level teacher who has provided him/her a legitimately good foundation in piano-playing and piano knowledge, the book may feel less useful. But that's true only if the reader reads too hastily, and with an eye at being entertained instead of educated. Serious, that is "real" pianists, would not want to miss owning and reading this wonderful book.