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Out of curiosity, I called up the EYB Library, and asked for ranking by popularity.  The top 3 were pretty much what you would expect, Mastering the Art (Julia), Silver Palate (oldie but goodie), and Joy of Cooking (doesn't everyone own a copy?)

But what truly surprised me was that all of books 4 through 6 were Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa books.  I know she's on TV, and that helps.  I also know here books have beautiful covers, and that helps.  She has lots of books, and that helps.  But I was astonished that she holds all of the next 3 spots on the list! 

Please, don't take this wrong, I not dissing her.  Heck, I have a couple of her books myself.  But of all of the phenomenal cookbooks published, Ina Garten holds 3 of the top 6 spots!  Does anyone else find this amazing?

What else would you have expected to find here instead? 

I've spent a lot of time going through the Library, especially over the months preceding Christmas as I compiled my own wish list and, sought out gift ideas for others.

I too was surprised at some of the "Most Popular" books and the absence of other books at the top of the list.  The biggest surprise for me was the vegetarian books near the top of the list.  I'd never even heard of Deborah Madison.  That said, the more I searched (sometimes by ethnicity or book types) the more context I gained.  Here are some of the conclusions I came to:

• "Most Popular" doesn't necessarily mean "best", just that a certain book has a higher representation on EYB member's bookshelves


• More recent books tend to be more popular and I think that's in part due to greater accessibility/global market and media.  I think Barefoot Contessa is a good example of this where that show airs in multiple countries, books have been released and re-released recently, they're available to the global, mass market at discounters such as Costco and Walmart


• where books have been published in a few countries, the # of bookshelves info isn't aggregated so, while cumulatively they may be more popular, the number of bookshelf info (and by extension, popularity) is being tracked by individual editions


• While EYB has launched in a few countries and, is accessible globally, it would appear that most members are US residents so US authors/books are more prevalent on bookshelves.  

It's quite fascinating looking at bookshelves, not just the library but those of other users.  I'm especially interested in looking at someone's bookshelf when there are only a few of us with a certain book, I'm always interested to see what other books we have in common and, whether they may own some other gems that I'd like to know about.  Good question SilverSage!

Since I posted this, I've been looking at Ina's books to see if I could better understand.  I think the popularity of her books has less to do with her television presence than I first suspected (although that is a factor).  Her books are absolutely a publishing and marketing masterpiece. 

I don't have any books from the rest of the food network stable, like Rachel, Jamie, Giada, Paula, etc, so I don't know if Ina's books are a FN formula or if it's unique to her, but they really are built to sell. I'd be interested in hearing from someone who has some of the other popular TV chefs' books to see if there are similarities.

Now, let me rephrase the original question.

What surprised you by its absence?

For me, I was surprised to find how far down you had to look to find anything from America's Test Kitchen. 

Jacques Pepin, although he showed up with Julia in the top 50, on his own wasn't represented until much further down the list.

James Beard is missing, although many of his books don't have modern ISBN numbers, so that could account for that.

McGee & Ruhlman were way down the list.

And you had to get into the hundreds to find anything by James Peterson, one of the most ubiquitous cooking teachers and cookbook authors of our age.  But he has no TV show. Peterson is not only surprising, it's disappointing.  One of the top teachers & authors, he has published award winning books on almost every topic of food.  It makes you wonder if it's the lack of television  exposure.

What surprised you by its absence?

Pinkernell, I'm sorry to say I had to look up Paula Wolfert to see what she's done - (I just reinforced my earlier thoughts on TV exposure).   It appears she is expert in Mediterranean and Morrocan cuisine, neither of which I'm very familiar.  Could you recommend one of her books in particular for each of the two cuisines?  I'd be interested in trying them, but without a recommendation, I don't know where to start.

Rob,  I'm surprised at the same.  It makes me wonder of it's an age thing.  Possibly the demographic here skews younger?  Perhaps what I see as a classic, others view as their grandmother's antiques?  That would be interesting, albeit useless, information.

Rob, I think the lack of Better Homes & Gardens is a technical issue.  When I put mine in, it wasn't indexed.  I assume that's because they release new editions so frequently that each one comes up as its own book, rather than just one title for all of them.  Does that make sense? 

About Ina Garten, I think there are two other factors driving her popularity that haven't been mentioned.  One is that the food blogging world seems to have a MAJOR crush on her.  I read a lot of blogs, and I'd say 1 post in every ten I read is about one of her recipes, or mentions her.  While I realize that the food blogging world is relatively small, they are very digitally connected, and probably therefore have a high representation on this site.

The other thing about Ina is that I think her appeal crosses generational lines.  I know you said that she looks like your mother, but she doesn't to me.  She's too old to be my mom (I'm a relatively young cook).  I think younger cooks are drawn in by her show, and by her calm, "you can do this" personality.  I think older, but less experienced cooks, are drawn in by her sophistication, and the lack of sensuous pictures of Ina WITH her food (one look at Giada's cookbooks, and even Nigella's, will show you what a mean).  And then I think older, more experienced cooks appreciate that her food is good, her recipes are clean, and there is a depth of flavor there.  Plus, as you said, her marketing machine is insane.

I've always held Ina Garten's cookbooks separate from those created by and for the Food Network.  She was on in the early days of the network before the reality shows and the Guy Fieri effect.  Remember when Gale Gand, Nigella Lawson, Mario Batali, and Sara Moulton were also on the Food Network all the time?  Real food professionals with substantive things to teach viewers.

As for Ina Garten, I've got her first book and her "Parties" book, and my family also owns her Paris cookbook.  Her recipes are usually flawless, and her East Hamptons image certainly is something in her favor as well.  Flipping through her books usually sounds something like this "Ooo I want to eat that.  Oo and that.  And that.  That one too."  Simple yet memorable is how I'd describe her cooking.  I don't hold her association with TV against her as a reliable source because it's not the only reason she's had success in the cookbook publishing world.  Sandra Lee?  Her cookbooks would be in the discount bins at Borders without the Food Network... oh wait, they are anyway.

I think it's only been a decade or so since vegetarian cookbooks have really branched out, so the relative few "old standbys" were authored by just a handful of people, Deborah Madison and Mollie Katzen / Moosewood Collective among the best known in the U.S.  And I'd make a guess that even the most well known of these are only household names in certain circles.  You walk into a steakhouse in Texas and take a poll, I bet most of those people would know Bobby Flay and only a handful would know Deborah Madison or Richard Olney.  But because this is a site for cookbook enthusiasts, we search them out.

New cookbooks don't usually get much TV time, so it certainly does fall on NPR (or BBC, etc) and the best-known bloggers and sites like eater.com, culinate, and slashfood to feature NEW books.  I wonder how many of the 100 most popular books have come out since the internet took off.  I would venture to guess that at least half of them are from the last fifteen years.  I think it's a beautiful thing what the web has done for cookbooks.  I was in my late teens when I started reading Orangette, 101 Cookbooks, and other blogs back in 2004.  Without the exposure through the internet, I'd never be as enthusiastic about authors like Maida Heatter, Lisa Yockelson, and Deborah Madison.  I think that's awesome.

So in my opinion, there are popular books for two reasons: because they are recent and have benefitted from the internet and the Food Network effect, OR they are popular because they are enduring and "classics" of their genre, like Marcella Hazan and Patricia Wells.  Either way, I have to believe that if several hundred EYB foodies find value in a book, it's probably for a reason other than pretty pictures and a carefully crafted image.

I gotta say I'm super surprised that The New Best Recipe isn't even near the top ten, because it's such a reliable staple.  Other than that, I guess I'm not too surprised by the books in the top ten.  It's certainly not my idea of the top ten books which should be in everyone's collection, but the world would be less interesting if everyone agreed on that!

SilverSage, I can't speak for other young cooks, and I don't even know if I'm considered a young cook anymore (I'm 25), but I personally think that "grandmothers' antiques" are just as valuable or even more valuable than a brand new modern cookbook.  Isn't cooking all about place and time anyway?  It's history that tastes good, haha.

Beyond that, her recipes WORK. They are easy, they are delicious, and they can be everyday or elegant dinner party. I can't remember having company over in years without at least one "Ina dish." I keep Rosemary Cashews in the freezer, which I call my signature last minute appetizer. The last dinner party I had, I realized while we were eating, that everything I had prepared was from her recipes. They are that approachable, with her "volume turned up," and just plain GREAT!