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I agree with you very much an have my own personal cookbook that really annoys me!  It's the much acclaimed Eat by Nigel Slater.  Really, do any of these critics who think it's so wonderful actually try using it?  To be fair the recipes I have tried from this book have been great, but the hassle!  It's a small but very chunky book that will just not stay open.  No matter how hard I try.  Last week I had to weight down both sides to keep my page and by the time I had done that could hardly see the recipe anyway.  It's not a book that encourages you to browse through it and I feel it's such a shame because a little forethought by the publishers on how it would be used would probably have made it one of my favourites.

It's a rare cookbook that I'll buy anymore without seeing and handling it.  Or, at the very least, using the 'look inside' and dimensions and weight to compare with my existing books.

Won't consider unless:

It stays open on a table.

It weighs less than 4 pounds (preferably significantly less).

It's less than 10 inches tall (and wide).

There is a listing of all the recipes with page numbers, either in the front table of contents or as ToCs at the beginning of each chapter.

The ingredients can be read while standing by the table on which the book is lying open.

The recipes are mostly on one page, or across two facing pages; i.e., there's an absolute minimum of page-turning while cooking.

I've been thinking about this and how I feel about layout and content.  I believe there's something of a difference between a straight recipe book and a cookbook.

Some use books for guidance, ideas and inspiration; others for background, history and technical knowledge.  And others for specific recipe details.

I love Nigel Slater's writing and his relaxed way of presenting recipes entangled with what's going on the garden, the market and time of year.  I like the context and his enthusiastic approach to food and its preparation.  I've tried dishes based simply on his description and can easily imagine lending a hand in his kitchen peeling potatoes and washing leeks.  I don't feel this connection with many other cookbooks.  Laurie Colywn was an enchanting writer and I felt her loss deeply and personally.  The Canal House ladies can have one hungry and practically drooling within five minutes of opening one of their books - Have you seen they're lunch time postings?  Talk about lunch-envy!

Patricia Wells and Dorie Greenspan are two whose narratives lead me though where they've been, what they're doing and they present specific steps within structured recipes which make them a pleasure to work from.

I think there's room for all kinds of food books and cookbooks. 

I've wondered what it is about a specific recipe that prompts me to try it.  Maybe there isn't even a picture of it - just a description and the instructions themselves.  Sometimes an unusual technique, a serendipidous match for what I have on hand and often it's the writer's joy and pleasure in it.

Nigel Slater's A Stew of Oxtail and Onions for a Cold Night from Tender, Volume I had me at the title, hitting exactly the right note at the right time.  And the dish itself was magnificent.

It's inconvenient when a recipe calls for a preparation (e.g. a sauce) from a different part of the book, but I often take a photocopy to have it available without the need to flip through, or prepare that component in advance.

For me, a cook book needs to inspire. And, I really like to have a photo of what I'm aspiring to create. Text only books do little for me now.. I like one recipe to a page, I like weights not "cup" or item  measures.. what is "One onion", "one carrot"..? These items vary considerably in weight! That said, two books on my shelves to which I constantly refer do not meet these criteria: Stephanie's "the Cook's Companion"  and Katie Stewarts' "Times Calendar Cookbook". I'm presently indexing a book "in the Kitchen", and when first I looked at it I thought "Ho hum, boring, wouldn't buy it".. now 400 recipes into the 1000+ and it is growing on me, simplicity, easily read, clear instructions, few photos.., so maybe what we like in books is never "fixed" and immutable, but "depends" on what it is we're looking for at that particular time!