About Books

[athena]

I've tried to search the forum and the guide, but I can't find a list of all the books in the game with the skills that they teach when a Sim has read them. The reason I'm asking is that, more often than not, one of my Sim will get to read a non-common and not a usual skill book, with a title as if it were fiction - I'm not sure, but say for example, "Zombies? Zombies!", then a skill development meter goes up over their heads as if they were acquiring a skill, but I do not know what skills they are acquiring.  Can someone please lead me to a link where I can find the information about these books ? Thanks! 

[pallyndrome]

That development meter does not always mean the sim is raising a skill. When reading a normal (not skill) book, it shows how far through the book the sim has got. So when it's full, the sim has finished the book.

[athena]

Is that so? I've always thought they were skilling up on something. Thanks pallyndrome! 

[Execution]

A skill development bar is blue and a progress bar is green. You might also see progress bars when cleaning or upgrading objects.

If you're looking for a list of skill books, there are three volumes of Gardening, Cooking, Fishing, and Mechanical books. Volume one teaches the first few skill points, volume two teaches the next set, and volume three teaches the last.

[MoMoll]

I think the number of books read helps with the writing skill.

[Execution]

Yep, you start writing faster after you've read either 50 books or 150 books. I forget.

[athena]

Really? I wonder what else aside from writing skill improvement. And how come some books are so very expensive? What's the advantage, say, of reading an expensive book like "Ran Created the World" or something found in China, or those rare books found in France, and that "Crumplebottom Legacy". Being expensive books, they might be useful for something, otherwise why would they be so costly? 

[MoMoll]

Yep, you start writing faster after you've read either 50 books or 150 books. I forget.

50 books! who has the time? Luckily the guitar and piano skills books count as reading. If you read to your kids foed that count too?

[TheChronicR]

Sims Wiki has a full list of all books available in-game. It can be found here. It also lists a few interesting facts about those books.

[MoMoll]

Thanks Chronic, I just checked and they mention some books I've never seen at the library or the bookstore.

[TheChronicR]

Thanks Chronic, I just checked and they mention some books I've never seen at the library or the bookstore.

Some of them are available with the Ambitions Time Machine, others - at WA locations. So it's normal.

[athena]

Thanks ChronicleR, this is the information I much needed! Ciao! 

[Ausette]

You can also increase the meter by reading books written by other Sims, or even your own books.

[athena]

I've read the TS3 wiki books section, it still didn't explain why some books are more expensive that the others. 

[Hosfac]

If you've ever engaged in the Writing skill, then you're aware that there are different genres of books that you can write.  Well, the same holds true for the books you buy, too.  Different genres take different amount of time to read and provide different rates of entertainment gain.  The longer it takes to read, the higher the rate of the gain.  This rate difference is slight, and it's not really something you'd notice unless you had read a lot of books in the game.  These higher quality books tend to be more expensive.

I've seen all writing genres available as pre-written books with the exception of Masterpiece novels.  You can only make those yourself through the Writing skill.  These books take an exceptionally long time to read, but the entertainment gain is quite high for reading and when you've finished it you gain the "Read A Masterpiece" moodlet that gives a +20 boost for 24 hours.