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http://www.amazon.com/Stray-Shopping-Carts-Eastern-America/dp/0810955202/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222198756&sr=8-1

The ultimate coffee table book is "The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification."

Funny and informative. I've had it around for a year or so now and people love it.

i have the Boring Postcards book. but, while odd, they're actually kindof nice to look at (since they're all vintage and usually photos of old factories or highways). but I generally love all of the books I buy and think most of those silly 1-read "ironic" or "bad" books are just like throwing away your money.

yes, I'm talking to you, Urban Outfitters book section.

A hilariously dirty coffee table book is "FUCK this book" by Bodhi Oser. Hot pink cover, lots of pictures depicting unusual placement of a sticker containing only the word "FUCK" over different signs (i.e. on the back of a semi's bumper "if you can't see my mirrors, i can't FUCK you", and on a state park sign "do not FUCK the waterfowl") It's very funny. There's a website dedicated to this sort of shenanigan as well: www.fuckthiswebsite.com (i know the URL sounds so dirty, i promise you it isn't porn though!)

i love Fuck this book. My sisters gave me a 3d book of cheesecake photos. so cool, but I have trouble seeing 3d crap.

"On Bullshit" isn't exactly a "joke coffee table book"... have you read it? Frankfurt is a serious & well-regarded philosopher, and the title essay is very thought-provoking!

I would rather display a book with the word "Fuck" on it, than one with the word "Shit"

English as a Second F*cking Language: How to Swear Effectively, Explained in Detail with Numerous Examples Taken From Everyday Life, by Sterling Johnson

Porn for Women, by Cambridge Women's Pornography Cooperative and Susan Anderson (features pictures of good-looking guys doing housework and going to craft shows)

I want a coffee table book about coffee tables.

"On Bullshit" IS a funny book to casually place around on your coffee table, or in the bathroom--it's especially a fabulous statement if you are a bullshi**-er and even better if you have house guests who are nice enough people, but are pretty well full of sh*#.
That said, it is also a fine read.

i was waiting for someone to bring up kramer's idea! haha
on bullshit is great, had to read it in university...

Yeah, "On Bullshit" is funny, but not in a jokey way. It's a really great essay.

I have "English as She Is Spoke." The authors tried to make a Portuguese-to-English phrasebook by using a Portuguese-French dictionary and a French-English dictionary. Hilarity ensues.

We have "No Regrets: The Best, Worst, & Most #$%*ing Ridiculous Tattoos Ever." Everyone who has spent some time on our couch since we got the book has flipped through it. It's full-page pictures with one or two line commentary for each one, so it's a quick read, great conversation starter.

Other end of the table has a book of NYC postcards and a Marseille tourism book that's written in French. (That's my "Me smart!" one.)

I agree that it's kind of weird to leave a serious work of criticism out under the aegis of "funny coffee table book." Just because it's short and entertainingly titled doesn't mean it doesn't advance a worthwhile argument. One wonders if Frankfurt would call this act performative bullshit.

I keep a copy of "Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of the Planet Earth" on my coffee table. Pick it up, flip to any page and hilarity ensues.

YES, the Frankfurt book is a great piece of criticism but ultimately it is funny -- and Frankfurt is pretty witty.

Pretty sad that people need books to say that they are funny or smart. Perhaps it is best to let our personalities speak. Trust me, if you're a boring dufus, everybody knows it. And no coffee table book, no matter how chic or trendy, is going to help your image.

Amusing book story: My mom has always loved crime novels and murder mysteries and has literally thousands of books. When having the house painted, bookshelf upon bookshelf had to be emptied - many ending up stacked on the dining room table. One day I was there alone with this really creepy painter who upon seeing the piles of books yelled, "Aw, dude! Cool books!" I look down and the top of every single stack had a book with one or more violent words in the title. Blood, Murder, Death, Kill, Dead, Die....

I made myself scarce the rest of that afternoon.

"Heeb" Magazine, The Food Issue.
It's essential (and hilarious!) reading for tribe members and those who love us.

Yeah, I'm sure Frankfurt wrote about the kind of bullshit being performed when one puts one of his books on display in an attempt to pronounce, "me smart!" The irony is particularly painful because the joke is on the perpetrator ("I'm a parlor clown. Please love me"). The fact that this display of books reveal the owner's lack of sincerity isn't particularly damaging, since the owner already revels on the fact that the books really aren't for reading.

I'm glad I'm not the only one with "Boring Postcards"! I found my copy at Border for only $3-4.

well, books furnish a mind, not a room -- now where have I posted that before? -- so if on bullshit is what you're reading for whatever reason, why not have on a coffee table.

on my coffee table is usually the most recent exhibition catalogue I was too weak-willed not to buy. So I think mine says "me dumb".