I think the first half of "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat" is a good companion for the "how to cook everything" books. If you have other resources you like for recipes and techniques, you can read it just for how it breaks down the flavor of dishes, the title concept, and skim the rest.

The show is very different from the book. It's a great pleasure to watch, even though I don't feel like I learn anything that improves my cooking. I agree that the cooking demos don't add much. It feels like she isn't as comfortable looking at the camera as she is conversing in front of it, and she's already said everything so well in the book, you might as well skip to the next episode.