IMO Joy of Cooking is a must-have, @alexascott. If nothing else because it has specific instructions for things as simple as boiling eggs and baking potatoes to perfection. If you run into a term, method or ingredient you’re unfamiliar with, likely it’s in there. The recipes have been in publication (of course things are added and updated) for decades, so there’s little worry about a teaspoon inadvertently being abbreviated with a capital T (I’ve actually had that happen with a recipe and correctly guessed that it was a misprint before I made it.) Personally, I see no reason to own another cookbook, with the millions of recipes online.
On the other hand…
I’ve heard that the Baking Bible is awesome, and if I baked, I’d buy it.
Once upon a time I would read a cookbook like I read novels…straight through from start to finish. Local collections are good for this, because they usually contain a little humor (intended or not). Looking at my cookbook shelf briefly (yeah, I still have 2 shelves of cookbooks and just last week I bought a same-as-free copy of the three ingredient cookbook lol) I can say that The Heritage of Southern Cooking was a good read.
Now, an anecdote and I’ll shut up.
One day I was sitting at my kitchen table reading a cookbook. My great aunt (and good friend) rang as said she was desperate – my cousin had called asking for a recipe for broccoli raisin salad, could I help? Now, to me, broccoli raisin salad is about what you’d expect to find in a goat’s stomach at an autopsy. Instead of reporting that juicy little tidbit, I said “Hold on a second!”, thumbed about 2 pages back in the cookbook and there the recipe was.
“Bon appetit!”