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A coffee table book is a hardcover book that is intended to
sit 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.
Since they are aimed at anyone who might pick the book up
for a light read, the analysis inside is often more basic
and with less jargon than other books on the subject.
Because of this, the term "coffee table book" can be used
pejoratively to indicate a superficial approach to the
subject.
Coffee table books have been featured in many areas of
popular culture. In the 1980s, British comedy duo Smith and
Jones released The lavishly-tooled Smith and Jones Coffee
Table Book — its cover was designed to look as if the
book could double as a coffee table. The fifth season
(1993–1994) of the sitcom Seinfeld included 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 coasters built into
the front cover, so the book itself could be turned into a
coffee table.
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