Photography book

[Russinating]

A friend's birthday is coming up and he's recently got into photography so I want to get him a nice, study book on the principles and techniques behind photography. Perhaps a bit of history too but more of a nice coffee table book rather than hardcore written theory

I studied Photography at A-Level but that was a long time ago and I'm professional now so I'm totally out of the loop with what books are good. Something like "Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs" stood out but unsure. It's also paperback so a bit meh.

Any suggestions?

 

[Russinating]

I went to a local art gallery, they didn't have a huge selection but they did have "The Photography Book, 2nd Edition" reduced down to £19.99 (it's £28.35 on Amazon). Looks like a beast and it's a really nice coffee table keepsake.

He'll just have to YouTube or come to me if he wants any theory