Reddit reviews The New Food Lover's Companion

James Peterson's Cooking is a great place to start. I've given it as a gift to several friends and family members and they have loved it. At $26 it's a steal for all of the content that the book covers. Peterson's What's A Cook To Do? ($6.46) is a great little reference-tips & tricks book to have on hand as well. As is his Essentials Of Cooking. You can't go wrong with any of James Peterson's books. Last but not least The Food Lovers Companion ($11) is a must have culinary dictionary/encyclopedia. I don't know if any of these are used in classes, but they are great educational books to get started with and they won't break the bank.

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Cook books are great. Lie cheat and steal when looking at recipes. Make them your own, dont go stealing books off of the shelves of others.
Check out, the Professional Chef by the CIA and the Food Lovers Companion. They make for great reference and learning material.

Books. Has he/she mentioned a cookbook or food reference book lately that he/she wants? Good cookbooks are awesome as gifts, since most cooks don't often have time to make it into a bookstore. Just as long as you get a good one (no Rachael Ray or Sandra Lee bullshit).

If your chef friend doesn't already have one of these books, any of these are a good gift:

Food Lover's Companion

On Food and Cooking

River Cottage Cookbook

French Laundry Cookbook

Also awesome, a subscription to Lucky Peach magazine.

What kind of restaurant/cuisine does your friend cook for? I have suggestions for more cookbooks if you want, but a little bit more information would be helpful.

Edit: Forgot to mention Art Culinaire, a hardback quarterly for chefs and cooks.