Coffee table book on coffee table

A coffee table book is a hardcover book that rests on a coffee table or similar surface in an area where guests sit and are entertained, thus inspiring conversation or alleviating boredom. They tend to be oversized and of heavy construction, since there is no pressing need for portability. Subject matter is generally confined to non-fiction, and is usually visually-oriented. Pages consist mainly of photographs and illustrations, accompanied by captions and small blocks of text, as opposed to long prose. Most tend to be biographies or fall into the genres of history, art, or entertainment. Image File history File links Coffee_Table. ... Image File history File links Coffee_Table. ... A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) book is bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth or heavy paper) and a stitched spine. ... A chained book in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University A Chinese bamboo book, in a collection at the University of California, Riverside. ... A coffee table is a style of long, low table which is designed to be placed in front of a couch, to support beverages (hence the name), magazines, books (especially coffee table books), and other small items to be used while sitting. ... Non-fiction is an account or representation of a subject which is presented as fact. ... This is an article on biographies. ... History studies the past in human terms. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... A stilt-walker entertaining shoppers at a shopping centre in Swindon, England Entertainment is an event, performance, or activity designed to give pleasure or relaxation to an audience (although, for example, in the case of a computer game the audience may be only one person). ...

David R. Brower is sometimes credited with inventing the "modern coffee table book".^[1] While serving as executive director of the Sierra Club, he had the idea for a series of books that combined nature photography and writings on nature, with, as he put it, "a page size big enough to carry a given image’s dynamic. The eye must be required to move about within the boundaries of the image, not encompass it all in one glance." The first such book, "This is the American Earth", with photographs by Ansel Adams and others and text by Nancy Newhall, was published in 1960; the series became known as the "Exhibit Format" series, with 20 titles eventually published. ^[2] David Ross Brower (July 1, 1912 – November 5, 2000) was the founder of many environmentalist organizations including the Sierra Club Foundation, the John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies, Friends of the Earth (1969), the League of Conservation Voters, Earth Island Institute (1982), North Cascades Conservation Council, and Fate of... The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization founded on May 28, 1892 in San Francisco, California by the well-known conservationist John Muir, who became its first president. ... The Tetons - Snake River (1942) by Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American photographer, best known for his black and white photographs of Californias Yosemite Valley. ... Nancy Wynne Newhall (May 9, 1908–July 7, 1974) was an American photography critic. ...

In popular culture

• There is a 2003 coffee table book about coffee tables called The Coffee Table, Coffee Table Book by Alexander Payne.^{[3] [4]}

• In the fifth season (1993–1994) of the popular American sitcom Seinfeld, there was a story arc involving Kramer wanting to write a coffee table book about coffee tables. His idea was for the coffee table book to have legs built into the back cover and cupholders built into the front cover, so the book itself could be turned into a coffee table.

• In the 1980s, British comedy duo Smith and Jones released The lavishly-tooled Smith and Jones Coffee Table Book ^[5] - its cover was designed to look as if the book could double as a coffee table.

Constantine Alexander Payne (born February 10, 1961 in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American film director and screenwriter. ... A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. ... This article is about the sitcom. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Cosmo Kramer was a fictional character on the United States based television sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998), played by Michael Richards. ... The Coffee Table Book About Coffee Tables is a fictional book written by Cosmo Kramer, featured in the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. ... Alas Smith and Jones was a British comedy sketch series featuring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. ...

References