The idea of using metaphor to get your message across has always been well used by NLPers, and this new book is no exception. The metaphor of cooking is used innovatively and creatively. There is beautiful photography throughout, and the NLP exercises are described as recipes for different outcomes. More suited to people with NLP experience, knowledge and understanding.
Each recipe is coded on a scale from easy to advanced, with information on whether a guide is needed or if the exercise can be done by the explorer alone. Time expectation is also given, and all of this makes it an easy decision to see whether the recipe is good for the situation you would like to use if for.
I have picked out three recipes that I particularly like: 'The State Collage' is an exercise that can be done by the individual to create a visual representation of how to create a desired state. Great for teenagers, I thought, that are working on state management. 'Body Talk' also interested me as a way of innovatively building a relationship with a part of your body that is giving you trouble. This could be used for self acceptance, loving and valuing your body and listening to what your body is telling you. 'Developing a part' uses clean language and an archetype or part of you that you would like to strengthen great for clients who are not getting the results they want in a certain area of their lives.
Clear instructions and scripts are given with each recipe to help you replicate the recipes time and time again, to get a great outcome every time!

The NLP Cookbook - 50 Life Enhancing NLP Techniques for Coaches, Therapists and Trainers is a mouth watering collection of tools, techniques and powerful strategies for all those interested in getting more effective results when working with others.
There are some stunning pictures to wet the appetite and the format and instructions for each of the recipes are clear and simple. Each one is very usefully laid out over a double page and the ingredients list the purpose of the activity, appropriate time frame, the resources needed, suggested skill level, the delivery method and the NLP frame that is being focused on. The steps are easy to follow for the novice and leave room for the more experienced 'cook' to adapt things to their own taste.
The recipes are divided up into seven different categories depending on their purpose and cover a wide variety of NLP areas.
-State
-Behaviour & Skills
-Beliefs
-Identity
-Goals
-Relationships
-Change
To help prepare the right dish for the right moment and to quickly find your way around the techniques there is an extremely helpful reference table at the back. Definitely, a book to dip into again and again for ideas and tasks. This one definitely won't stay on the shelf, you'll want to have it at hand on a regular basis. It will prove over time to be an invaluable source of inspiration for both new and more experienced practitioners alike.

This is a beautiful book, clearly crafted with devotion. The style of writing is open, honest and accessible and the presentation is equally appealing, with very attractive illustrations and good, simple diagrams just where they are needed. Above all, though this is an extremely intelligent book. The simplicity of its approach and its ease of access for both beginners and advanced NLP practitioners alike is only possible because of the way in which the author has developed a (unique in my experience) coherent, underlying structure for NLP. In that structure, the frames and delivery methods of any NLP intervention sit
very comfortably and the cookbook metaphor makes this a practical, engaging and fruitful tool. Some of my coaching colleagues may be critical of the technique-based approach of NLP, arguing that the 'doing' of an intervention in a mechanistic way dishonours the humanity of clients and explorers. I think that this book presents useful techniques in a very human way, recognising throughout that people and their experiences are rich and varied and wonderful. Fran Burgess, who is definitely one of the good-guys in the NLP world, has produced a very tasty book which is going to spend nearly all of its time getting dog-eared and well-thumbed on my desk!

This innovative book by Fran Burgess has been long due in the field of NLP. Fran has put together 50 simple but powerful strategies that can concretely enrich your life in a variety of areas. These 'recipes' show off some of the best that NLP has to offer. Well written, creative and pragmatic, `The NLP Cookbook` is a valuable resource for both newcomers and NLP experts alike.

Fran Burgess's exuberant and colourful NLP Cookbook serves up personal creativity and adventure as the delectable main dish for a more experientially acquired NLP.
The recipes include advanced technical know-how as well as games, visions, mentors, collages and even dancing - NLP as an embodied and systemic art, imaginative and skill-based.
It's a feast for all the senses and in particular contains the subtle ingredients for a deepening of self-belief, inner resourcefulness and wisdom.
A lovely, unique book and a delicious treat for anyone developing their NLP practice with gusto!

In the early days of NLP, our lives were devoted to exploring the many possibilities of consciousness and change. I wish we had possessed a guidebook like this, as it offers so many interesting suggestions for creating new choices and outcomes. Fran Burgess has compiled so many delectable recipes, you're almost tempted to eat the menu!

This book is Fran, through and through. Like a diamond, she absorbs the layered light of experience and then gives it back to us, sparkling in a hundred new forms. The result? We are both delighted and enlightened.

Wow, a book with 50 new techniques that puts the Explorer at the centre of every process. It is presented in a lively, easy-to- understand format that will appeal to beginners and the experienced practitioner alike. But that's not all. For the serious student of NLP, Fran Burgess reveals the secret that enabled her to create these and an unlimited number of recipes. This fresh approach to NLP stimulated my taste buds, left me feeling well-fed, and wishing cookbooks were awarded Michelin stars.

From soup to nuts, from deepest calling to imagineering a positive future, from problem solving to a generative life, Fran has created a recipe for thriving in the big stew of our experience. She has created a very useful addition to the field of literature in the NLP world.

Fran's NLP kitchen is filled with gorgeous aromas and simple yet satisfying recipes to savour and reflect on. Some can be cooked to perfection in less than 20 minutes. Lots of practical dishes for many occasions, with a common theme of getting the best from your own delicious consciousness.

The NLP Cookbook represents years of modelling of human behavioural patterns. Fran has condensed these years of knowledge and experience into the recipes of the Cookbook and has produced a piece of wisdom, which has benefits for the novice, the expert and all those between. The fact that the techniques are based on observations of human behaviour means that they work at a high level of patterning and can create significant change for the client.

I have used the recipes with my clients, often to raise awareness by bringing new information to the client's attention and sometimes to consolidate work done in sessions. I am always impressed by the relevance of the different techniques to our behavioural patterning. I have also used the techniques myself as a way of developing my relationship with my own work and inspiring my sense of purpose.

The philosophy supporting Fran's work is true to the Presuppositions of NLP, for example, by working within an outcome focus and by emphasising that the client has all the resources within to achieve their desires. From the first page the facilitator is encouraged to stand back and let the client own the space and the change. As such it makes an valuable philosophical statement in today's world of NLP.

This book is absolutely fabulous, full of goodies for the NLP novice as well as an experienced NLP Trainer or Researcher and all who find themselves in between. It is a delightful book to dip in and out of. The mix of metaphor is simple and universal, the symbols and photographs support the ext and embellish the lesser used senses.

I love the values that come through, the lack of ego and the choice that is given to the reader and thank you so much for all the referencing - I do get mad when writers don't reference their source.

Taking the metaphor further - I took this to read in Cornwall on a Rick Stein week-end so it has already travelled to the restaurants of Rick Stein and Jamie Oliver!!! I heartily recommend it to all who are applying their NLP learning both to themselves and their clients and especially to anyone exploring their own life journey.

Fran Burgess has created a marvelous compendium that NLPers will want to have around as a reference for problem-solving and generating ideas. I love this cook book