I recently purchased The Professional Chef (Culinary Institute of America) as both a cookbook and a reference guide. Despite what the title suggests, it is filled with basic information about: identifying different vegetables, herbs, and fruits; explaining the cuts of meat, their purpose and origin; chapters on different basic cooking techniques such as grilling, roasting, baking, etc.
It has a wide variety of recipes and some excellent resources for someone learning to cook. The best part is that the book will continue to serve you well through more professional culinary endeavors such as starting a catering business, opening a restaurant, or just cooking a meal for family and friends.