Who is Nathan Myrhvold? Many of my peers are already asking that question. I have an answer. Myrhvold is the ultimate geek, because his geekdom extends not only to computer science, but to my field, food.

Myrhvold, who looks like he stepped directly from the pages of a J.R.R. Tolkien book, is the former Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft, and I assume he cashed out for a pretty penny and can do what he likes.

So now he’s gone and written what may be the most comprehensive and impressive tome of all time in the cooking world, the six-volume, 2,438 page “Modernist Cuisine”. At several hundred dollars, one may be tempted to call it expensive. But as the author sagely points out, “it costs less per pound than Parmigiano Reggiano.”

One wag has stated that calling this a cookbook is “like calling Mt. Everest a hill.” The first volume alone is dedicated to subjects like the History and Evolution of Cooking, Microbiology, Food Safety, Food Health and Physics. Other volumes contain information about the new techniques in the cooking world, animals and plants, and recipes.

No less an authority than Ferran Adria of elBulli, the world’s most famous chef at this moment, has said that the book will “change the way we understand the kitchen forever.” The book illustrates how the chef prepares many of his most famous dishes, as well as those of an American chef, Grant Achatz of Chicago’s Alinea, and a British culinary giant, Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck.

Owning “Modernist Cuisine” will explain hundreds of cooking phenomena, such as why raising the grill in the backyard won’t lower the heat, or why plunging food into icy water doesn’t stop the cooking process. It’s kind of like having Harold McGee (author of “On Food and Cooking”), Adria and Escoffier, (yes, that Escoffier) rolled into one.

Anyone who is truly serious about food, cooking or food science will want to pour over these volumes for years to come. Myhrvold, you may be a nerd, but I’m royally jealous of you, man.

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