Comment D'Arcy Thompson's On Growth and Form (Score 1) 451
Although it's a bit more modern than the real oldies mentioned in the post, I consider D'Arcy Thompson's On Growth and Form (1917) to be one of the great classic timeless science books. I had it as a text book for a physiology class 20 years ago and it is still on my shelf. Every once in a while I just like to thumb through it and bask in its coolness (and I am NOT a biologist).