I'm with you! The pictures I always see - which are admittedly beautifully designed - are always giving the books more effort than the human. I'm waiting for some up-and-coming designer to make some similar statement and become famous for "re-centering home design around the people who live there." All the while the rest of us will just stare in awe.

I'm sure there are similar paradigms in most industries (esp. design oriented ones) - I'd be really interested in a book or blog that explored those and talked about why it works out that way.