Alton Brown is the science-nerd star of the award-wining Food Network show Good Eats, where he demonstrates ingenious approaches to the everyday meal. He’ll teach even the most cooking-averse how to whip up dinner using only the gadgets at hand. Brown is famously opposed to fancy, single-use cooking accessories, preferring the aisles of a hardware store, or the depths of his cluttered garage, to source his culinary tools. He has fun poaching chicken in a coffee maker, drying beef jerky via a box fan, and tackling that most brag-worthy (and problematic) task: deep-frying your Thanksgiving bird. Tomorrow, he’s giving a reading from his new book of cooking-stunt recipes in Good Eats: The Early Years (Stewart, Tabori, $37.50). Bring your safety goggles tonight in case he gives a demonstration. Third Place Books 17171 Bothell Way N.E., 366-3333, thirdplacebooks.comBook purchase admits two. 6:30 p.m. Fri., Oct. 16