Ask HN: Coffee table books

‘Gravitation’ by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler. It is still a tremendous resource for all of the science and math of Special and General Relativity.

A bit off topic, but I’d add the complete collections of Calvin & Hobbes, The Far Side, and Bloom County.

I use C.G. Jung's "The Red Book". It's imposingly large, very red, and full of impenetrable medieval-style German handwriting and disconcerting drawings documenting Jung's dreams and visions circa World War I. There is an English translation at the end, and if people ask, it's fair to pretend that I've read it because I do skim a few pages occasionally.

The Art of Electronics, 3rd Edition, by Paul Horowitz

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521...

or 50 classic/100 favorite climbs books

I think 'Revolution in the valley' could qualify, it's not really a coffee table book, but the stories are so short you can pick it up and read one in a few minutes.

There is also 'Appledesign: The Work of the Apple Industrial Design Group', it's old and out of print but it's got some really interesting prototypes in there.

As others have mentioned there is also Dieter Rams book and Core Memory.

Might I also suggest Knuth?