Uncovering the mysteries of the wok

"Wok hay," loosely translated from Cantonese, means "the breath of a wok." And that's the title of the culinary chronicler's latest book ("The Breath of a Wok" by Grace Young and Alan Richardson, Simon & Schuster, $35), an engaging meditation on the history of China's most basic cooking tool and a tour through the country's culture in an effort to find out just what the secrets of Chinese food are.