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Book
v50.14 · v0.47.05 This article is about the current version of DF.Note that some content may still need to be updated. |
- See also: Scroll
Books are a type of item. They are written by historical figures in worldgen, the player in adventurer mode, and by citizens or visiting scholars in fortress mode.
Books are created in the craftsdwarf's workshop out of a written-on quire, thread, and a book binding using the Bookbinding labour. Book bindings can be made from wood, stone, metal, and glass. Both wood and stone bindings are made at a craftsdwarf's workshop, metal bindings are shaped at a metalsmith's forge, and glass bindings are created at a glass furnace. Due to a bug, the final product of binding a book tends to be worth much less than the combined value of its constituent parts, making books a terrible way to generate wealth. Books (and written-on quires) are stored in bookcases placed in a library.
Written books can be found under "codices" in the z Stocks screen and in the L Artifacts screen.
In adventure mode, one must be a Reader of at least Novice skill in order to read a book. As this skill can only be acquired during character generation, literacy is a decision you must make before you start playing.
Topics
Necromancy
Necromancy books cannot normally be created by players either in adventurer mode or fortress mode, but will be written during world generation by necromancers and various demonic rulers.
Books on necromancy are found sitting on tables in the tower or keep of the entity that wrote them.
If a Necromancer visits your fortress, he may bring books with him. Books with secrets in them are considered artifacts; they will appear on your fortress's Artifacts list and may be stored in stockpiles that allow artifact-quality finished goods.
Some books may contain "secrets of life and death", which when read by an adventurer will make him a necromancer—immune to death from age, free from the mortal concerns of sleep, hunger and thirst, and able to raise zombies. An adventurer who has learned the secrets of life and death CAN write his own books containing the secrets of life and death, and can thus spread necromancy. This makes it possible to attack a Tower in Adventure Mode, read the slab containing the secrets, go to your retired fort, and write a book on the secrets of life and death there. When you unretire the fort, it will only be a matter of time before everyone in the fort is a necromancer.
Art
Art books describe poetic forms, dance forms and musical forms.
Scholarly
Scholarly books include topics on mathematics, philosophy, history, geography, medical science, natural science, astronomy, engineering, and chemistry.
Civilizations practice different forms of scholarship. Dwarves practice all forms of scholarship (while still preferring craftsdwarfship to books), elves do elfy stuff, and for humans it is randomized for each instance of civilization (scholar types are based on the civilization's values and jobs).
Other
Books may be autobiographies, or about other historical characters or locations the author has had contact with. Presumably the relevant topics must have been discovered by an individual's civilization for biographies, autobiographies, etc. to be written. The "Autobiographical adventure" history topic, for example, presumably unlocks autobiographies.
Books may also be commentaries on other books.
Bookkeepers don't require a book or scroll to update stockpile records, oddly enough.
Bugs
- Although adventure mode characters require some training in the Reader skill to read books, fortress mode dwarves will "read" them even if they are completely illiterate.
- Binding a quire into a codex destroys the material definition and value. Bug:9409 This loss of information also results in the book being a single page long. Written works can be left in quire form to retain their properties.
- Quires targeted by any active jobs (e.g. being read) are unavailable for binding. Bug:9269
"Book" in other Languages 
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