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This list of coffee table books will satisfy everyone on your gift-giving list. The adventurer, bookworm, music lover, gearhead, animal lover, and more!
Everyone loves a good coffee table book.
Have you ever found yourself sitting awkwardly in someone’s living room and you hit that moment when things get tense? Maybe you do not know each other very well. Or you’ve already run the gamut of uninteresting small talk. You start looking around the room for a savior. And your eyes land on the book on the coffee table. You pick it up and start flipping through it. That’s when your host tells you the most fascinating story about why that book is significant to them. Now we’re rolling …
The Science
According to Architectural Digest (AD), and let’s face it, they know coffee table books, there are a few reasons why we love a good coffee table book. AD talked to several psychologists who agree on a few main points.
- Coffee Table Books tell your visitor a lot about you. Many people like to display a book they find interesting or that has moved them in some way. By leaving it out in the open for guests to see, you are making a statement about that aspect of your personality.
- Coffee Table Books are great conversation starters. Imagine you are on a first date, or meeting the parents, a coffee table is a great way to break the ice and maybe even find a common ground.
- Coffee Table Books take us back … According to Dr. Sally Augustin, the act of flipping through a coffee table book with its large pages and beautiful imagery, inspire a feeling of awe. “There are all sorts of positive social repercussions from feeling awe, like having positive feelings toward others, inspiring curiosity, improving our mood, improving our cognitive performance, or encouraging us to go with a more creative solution to a problem.”
The Coffee Table Book Deep Dive
If you are anything like me, once you start browsing through my list of coffee table books, you are going to find yourself fascinated with things you never even found remotely interesting before. And if you have a tough-to-shop-for person on your gift-giving list, I am sure they have an interest that someone has made a coffee table book about.
Happy browsing, holiday hero!
