This is a beautiful book. It is, however, not a book that details a rigorous, pristine process of making starter and baking sourdough bread. Nor does it reveal exactly how the Poilane bakery does it, because the starter's condition changes constantly and the bakers respond to it based on their experience rather than employing formalized solutions.Also, the sourdough recipe in the book is not for experienced sourdough bakers who maintain a starter - it jumpstarts starter with yogurt to make baking sourdough bread at home accessible for a baker who does not already maintain a starter. And finally, the bread recipes are few, as the Poilane bakery's breads are few. Most of the book is devoted to an interesting assortment of simple recipes with complex flavor combinations that can be paired with great bread or that are based in wheat, oats and flours (see photos).These unmet expectations seem to be at the core of the negative reviews posted at the time of this review. It would be a great kindness to the author and Amazon customers if the preview pages showed more of the book's actual contents. I too, based on the preview pages, though the book would be all about sourdough and bread baking tips. Instead, the book explains that sourdough starter is an organic living thing that responds to its environment and that learning how to bake a loaf of Poilane sourdough is a months' long hands-on apprenticeship, so a home baker with a book cannot duplicate the conditions, that process or the learning involved. She does, however, encourage a home baker to do their own experimentation, to adjust measures and to take notes to see how a starter and a bread differ based on the time of year baked and other factors, and to use all the senses in making bread. This is a lovely and important instruction as it, in short, empowers the home baker to cultivate their own expertise.This encouragement is also true to the way bread is made at Poilane - not with a rigorously imposed system that can be detailed for reproduction in a book, but by paying attention and responding. In that respect, the secret of Poilane is indeed revealed - it's just not a formula.I will say if the subtitle of the book was "RECIPES from the world famous bread bakery", rather than "the SECRETS of the world famous bread bakery", some of these confused expectations would likely by avoided, and that is unfortunate. But, the title is the title, and so a more accurate preview of the book's contents would be helpful. Poilane's background and some of the bread making overview is in the book's preview right now, and I have uploaded photos of some of the other recipes to help readers see what makes up the core of the book, as by volume, most of the book is dedicated to recipes that pair with or are influenced by with the bread recipes provided in the first part of the book.This book is a pleasure and it makes a beautiful gift, just not for someone seeking a sourdough manifesto. I will say this though, my time and brain bandwidth constraints are such that maintaining a starter has never appeared feasible or even desirable, it just sounded like a burden. But, this author has created that interest for me, precisely because she does not present a rigorously imposed formula or set of conditions that must be duplicated like a lab, and instead invites paying attention over time and learning what goes into a great bread and how it changes with the seasons. I may now actually cultivate a starter, and furthermore, enjoy it. I hope this review helps this beautiful book to land in hands of cooks and bakers that will also enjoy it.