One of the most fascinating inclusions in the Elder Scrolls franchise has always been the vast collection of books we can find and keep, that give us great insights into the lore and history of that particular universe. And yet with Fallout, this feature is almost entirely absent. Yes, there are terminals we can access, and holotapes we can listen to. But most books in the Fallout universe serve only to increase our various stats, after which they disappear forever. Even pre-war books are merely collectible objects with a mediocre bonus. Rather than something we can really invest in. But with Fallout 4, I have a feeling that all of this is about to change.

Following a few interesting discoveries regarding the perk chart, I think I may have stumbled upon something that could explain a very important difference with the books we will be finding in and around the wastelands of the Commonwealth. I do not want to go into my 'perk chart findings' too much at this stage, but suffice it to say, there is a lot more to the chart than is at first apparent.

Back on the subject of books, we know at the very least that skill books exist. We have even heard mention of a returning favorite in 'Grognak: The Barbarian', which was shown during the http://www.gameinformer.com/games/fallout_4/b/playstation4/archive/2015/07/26/fallout-4-quakecon-presentation.aspx?utm_content=buffer11c8a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer&PostPageIndex=3&PageIndex=3 demo. But the function of books will clearly be very different due to the way that skills now work. Gone is the 1-100 scale from previous games, which would allow an occasional point or two to be added to our total. And so any associated books would also have to work in an entirely new way. Perhaps a clue can be found in a favorite game of Mr Howard himself. The game I am of course referring to is Grand Theft Auto V.

In GTA V, we have a whole range of items that we can collect, usually in groups of 100, that offer some form of bonus. In the case of Fallout 4, I believe that we will be tasked with finding a total of 100 pre-war books (which would actually be magazines), each unique, and each related to a specific skill or stat. But this time we get to keep them, and we can read them. The way this would work ties directly into the time scale used in gameplay. I have given this a great deal of thought, and I am fairly confident that we will be dealing with a ratio of 1:6. This means that 1 in-game hour would last 10 minutes of real time.

Whenever we find one of these books, we would receive a temporary boost in the form of 1 point in the associated stat, or a single rank if it's a skill. This boost would last for 3 in-game hours, or 30 minutes of real time, and would give us access to all of the benefits of the respective increase. This means that we would temporarily be able to craft better items, or open more complex locks, or receive a faster rate of gaining XP, as well as many other options. Where this would get really interesting however, is when this feature is used in conjunction with the Comprehension perk, which requires an Intelligence score of 7. Each rank in comprehension would double the duration of the effect. And so with the 4 available ranks, the temporary increase from books would then last for 6, 12, 18, and 24 hours of game time, which would equate to 1, 2, 3, or 4 hours of real time.

Looking back at the total of 100, this would mean that each skill or stat would actually have a set of 5 completely unique books which, as with the case of Grognak, will also include comics or magazines. In gameplay terms, this would allow us to benefit from this temporary increase a total of 4 times for each. But what about the 5th book?

What I believe is that, as a reward for completing a whole set, once we have found and read all 5 books in any individual collection, the increase becomes permanent. This means that, once we find all 100 books, they will have exactly the same in-game effect as finding the complete set of 20 bobbleheads.

EDIT1: after reviewing the footage again, I am quite certain that the in-game skill books will all come in the form of magazines, with the exception of the 'Grognak' series, which would be comic books. As we find each one, they would be added to the magazine rack seen in the footage, which has a total of 20 slots, one for each set of 5. Also, as suggested by 2-Caps, I believe that each magazine will also come with either a unique schematic, or a unique unlockable item, a bit like the 'free gifts' that are given away with comics and magazines in the real world. Any additional books that may or may not appear in game could then be added to the bookshelf, also seen in the footage. This would include the mysterious book 101 that I have mentioned in this thread. Finally, with the inclusion of an app that we can take with us wherever we go on our mobile devices, I believe that all of these books and magazines will be fully downloadable once unlocked, so that we can build up our own portable Fallout library.

EDIT2: as suggested by LostPony, it would make more sense if there was one unique or craftable item for each set of books. This would give us 20 in total.

Where do we store them? I saw a wire book rack in some of the images so maybe we can actually utilize that for the collection.

Now I need to find the image and see how many book spaces there are.

You may be on to something, and I think you are correct that there are sets, but the book/magazine rack in the PC's house in the demo had far fewer spots. Even the one in the garage only had 4 sides and I think 5 openings in each side or row. Will we keep multiple issues in each slot, or have to build many racks to hold them all?

The 'magazine rack' in the demo, seen https://youtu.be/D5esyZPt5Jo?t=24m7s, has 5 racks per side and 4 sides, making a total of 20 racks. One for each collectible set.

EDIT: this would make sense alongside the bobblehead stand as it would take up less space, and we would then be able to add each book into it's respective slot as we find them. Note that this would mean we access the books in the same way as using a bookshelf in Skyrim.

In the scene where they are adding the book rack to the house you see two different wire book racks (large and small) and there are also other shelves shown that look like books could go on them.

https://youtu.be/D5esyZPt5Jo?t=24m8s

EDIT: Ninja'd

I think that the smaller rack may be for something else, because the large one has exactly 20 racks, one for each set. Also the 'shelves' look more like something we could put food or other items onto, like the ones in the Megaton house.

Makes me wonder if these skill books are going to be stuff like Melee+20% damage, VATS regens 25% quicker, better barter prices with opposite gender, unique dialoge options with children/ghouls etc. Hopefully it'll be like The TES books and it's a one time upgrade but there are other copies in the world.

The process I have described above would be the same as getting a free temporary level increase every time we find a book, and this would include any associated effects. As we level up alongside this, each new book will be potentially more powerful due to us naturally levelling our skills and stats as we go. And by the time we've found all 100 books and all 20 bobbleheads, this will technically equate to 40 free permanent level ups.

Temp boost doesn't seem likely to me. Those just always seem pointless and to find a 'rare' book and that's all it can do for you seems lame. But if we do get a temp boost I do hope there is a way to pick up the book without automatically reading it. Otherwise I'll never be able to put it in the book rack.

Why can't it be 20 bobble heads and just 25 books? What makes you think there will be 100 books? I know the perks have levels, but I don't see how that would mean there has to be levels of books.

The temporary boost in this case would be invaluable due to the immediate and noticeable impact of increasing either a skill or a stat. Remember that this would be the same as going from 25 to 50, or from 50 to 75 in one of the old skills. In the case of stats, it would mean we could access brand new perks as long as the effect remained active. This will have far greater impact than the books seen in previous games. And as for keeping the books for later use, I would imagine that they would at first have an 'activate' rather than a 'read' option. Once activated, the effect is applied, and the book can then be read at any time.

EDIT: note that with skill books, the next available rank at the time we 'read' the book will be unlocked, regardless of whether we have used books already for the same skill. After we have read all 5 books for a particular skill, this same principle would be applied, but the increase would then be permanent.

As for the 100 books, call it a very strong hunch. There are an incredible number of references to Fallout 3 in the perk chart, the footage, and all of the other snippets we've now seen. There are also references to other games, historical events, famous people, movies, books, and all sorts of other examples. This is very clearly something that Bethesda have invested an enormous amount of time constructing, and it's not just a game engine, there seem to be enough hidden references to fill an encyclopaedia!

In this example, the reference seems to be tied very strongly to the collectibles found in Grand Theft Auto V, and because of how direct many of the other references are, I can safely say that the devs would have included 100 books as a direct nod to the source. But there is another reason. Once I post up the full updated perk descriptions on my skills thread, you will see that there is actually another example that ties directly to this idea. And this one appears to be something quite unique. I wont say too much for now, but it does seem to be a very cool addition to the franchise. It is something I have dubbed Book 101.

-fingers in ears making moose horns, while saying- Nah nah nah.

Can not hear you GK I am still holding out hope (as small as it may be) that books will present us with rare schematics this time out, or idea's for them. Heh How cool would it be to craft you own Grognak great axe or barbarian helm (khan style). The phantoms sneak suit, wasteland survivors guide backpack, something of deans electronics.......

( I say this with love of course of the many popular mechanic/ Motorcycle rider my uncle had when I was just a small wastelander, course I was mainly looking at the girls that were always in these posing on the cars and bikes. Still there was always an column devoted on how to make do something. Would make sense each book added would something new. I know its a fragile bubble but let me keep it hehehe. )

2-Caps, you never cease to amaze me! This would actually give us two sets of collectables in one, and so I think this would be very possible as part of the whole book setup. This would mean 5 unique melee weapons, 5 energy weapons, 5 explosives and so on. In the case of your's and Myst's previous suggestions, this would even explain where the safe-cracking tools and the old C4 come into play. Absolute genius!

In fact, I think it's about time I post up your real identity, as captured https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7633/16608566927_953c035035_z.jpg using CCTV and a couple of bits of sticky tape

EDIT: schematics will be added onto the skills thread as an additional feature of the above mentioned skill books.

Lol, I think this is all coming together quite nicely. And just so you know, I don't spend all of my spare time thinking up criminal activities.

Yes I have heard that county lock up leaves one lots of time to contemplate Shank making, smack talking, new Identities to pull con jobs, and needlework of all things. Then again you might be a Baggins sort of burglar/ second story woman (one who does not get caught).

Sounds good GK! (Do you mind if we call you GK?)
I would like to read the books without time stopping. You know, for while you are waiting around for a store to open, or to meet an NPC who doesn't come out till a certain time and you show up early. Instead of waiting, use the time to learn a bit of lore or be amused by a good story!

Yes, GK is fine

And I think you're right about time not stopping in-game as we read. This would certainly be far more immersive than the 'wait' function, which I never personally use. Interestingly, your comment of 'waiting around for a store to open' may well end up having a real world application. Here is some information I have just added to the OP:

EDIT: after reviewing the footage again, I am quite certain that the in-game skill books will all come in the form of magazines, with the exception of the 'Grognak' series, which would be comic books. As we find each one, they would be added to the magazine rack seen in the footage, which has a total of 20 slots, one for each set of 5. Also, as suggested by 2-Caps, I believe that each magazine will also come with either a unique schematic, or a unique unlockable item, a bit like the 'free gifts' that are given away with comics and magazines in the real world. Any additional books that may or may not appear in game could then be added to the bookshelf, also seen in the footage. This would include the mysterious book 101 that I have mentioned in this thread. Finally, with the inclusion of an app that we can take with us wherever we go on our mobile devices, I believe that all of these books and magazines will be fully downloadable once unlocked, so that we can build up our own portable Fallout library.

I wish I can collect Cat's Pow and "examine" it's content.

I think that would be seen as a little too much of a 'http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Cat' to be included as something we can read in-game.

I would love collectable, actual readable material in fallout. I loved collecting and reading the books in the TES series. It would be great if each collectable magazine/book was kind of a serialized story. Some titles already lend themselves to this like Tales of A Junktown Jerky Vender.. Most don't though. I'm not sure what they could do with something like the Big Book of Science. It would be great to open it up and have an excerpt from a 1950's science book with theories that have since been proven wrong.

I think you all are on to something with schematics in the skill books. If we think back to FO3 and the Keller Family Manuscripts, we had to find 5 to learn the location of the unique Fatman. Collecting 5 magazines or books to complete a schematic makes more sense than getting a schematic per book/mag. Think of how magazines today run a "build-up" story or how-to article. It usually plays out over several editions to get you the reader to keep buying.

I think we will get a complete schematic after collecting 5 books/mags that gives a perk boost specific to the item when we equip the item we have constructed, but only when we have the item equipped.

I think this actually sounds a lot more practical. This would then give us a total of 20 unique or craftable items. In the case of Lockpick, for example, I think this is likely to be a safe-cracking tool as suggested by Myst357. Most likely some kind of drill, which could then be modified into either a blowtorch using Gun Nut or a laser cutter using Science!

EDIT1: as 2-Caps suggested, in the case of Grognak, this would most likely be his axe.

EDIT2: I have added your suggestion of one per set into the OP.

Hey, I know that you are just kidding, but I do enjoy a good thief build now and then.

Yes I tend to be more of a Bilbo Baggins type or a Robin Hood type of thief when I play as one.

Shut up and take my caps!

Cool! At least I did something productive at work today.

Definitely, It was actually a really good suggestion

EDIT: I can't spell properly today!