Have you ever visited someone's house and they say "Oh, stay and have lunch. It's pot luck, but do stay". You do and it's delightful and you just KNOW that this is how they eat all the time. There's no child saying "Urgh, you know I don't eat joined-up meat" and no man muttering "Why are we having mucked-about food?"
Four stars from me. I find it an excellent book and a great inspiration, but then I've had more years than I care to remember of cooking meals for varying numbers of people. I doubt that it would be quite so useful to someone needing to master the basics.