Authors Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs performed a noble deed in compiling The Food52 Cookbook: 140 Winning Recipes from Exceptional Home Cooks (Wm. Morrow, $35). They took submissions from home cooks across the country, tested them thoroughly, and put them all in this volume, organized by season. This book is as good for the budding college-age cook as it is for the longtime chef extraordinaire. For my part (somewhere in between the aforementioned levels of expertise), I like to read myself to sleep with this cookbook, because, guess what?—each recipe is introduced with a brief and elegant blurb from the authors and followed by sections entitled “Tips and Techniques” from the original cook, “About the Cook,” and “What the Community Said” from others who have used the recipe. The value of Food52, like the U.S.A. itself, lies in the diversity of voices it contains.