A cafe-table book i(World Press edition) incorporates surprisingly a vast volume of information about London, history, architecture, maps - all in one, a few year uni course in a compact volume.
Fan to read, plentitude to learn for any age group.
Just finished the 2012 publication that I found on my sister's end table. Informative and fun to read... and now I have been feeding my sister London trivia facts. :-)