# Book Name Suggestions (skill books)

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062>\
**Category:** The Drawing Board\
**Created:** [April 29, 2013, 5:43am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062 "2013-04-29T05:43:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Shoes](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Shoes)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/21 "2013-05-10T21:06:28Z")

</div>

[quote=“Slax, post:18, topic:1062”]You know what essential book we’re missing?  
The Anarchist Cookbook [size=7pt](2035 Revision)[/size][/quote]

What would it train?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Pthalocy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/22d042/32.png) [@Pthalocy](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Pthalocy)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/22 "2013-05-10T21:15:11Z")

</div>

Is Popular Mechanics not currently one of the included books ingame? They always have sections on how to do some craft project.

Popular Mechanics: DIY Edition. Could train construction skill OR mechanics. Whichever needs more options, the real thing tends to cover both topics.

Likewise, Popular Science magazine could train computers skill, OR electronics. Whichever one needs more books on it’s list.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![drake1storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/54ee81/32.png) [@drake1storm](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/drake1storm)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 9:25pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/23 "2013-05-10T21:25:19Z")

</div>

[quote=“Slax, post:18, topic:1062”]You know what essential book we’re missing?  
The Anarchist Cookbook [size=7pt](2035 Revision)[/size][/quote]

Add in an explosives skill, and you get +1 interwebs.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Miloch](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/miloch/32/1339_2.png) [@Miloch](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Miloch)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 9:28am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/24 "2013-05-11T09:28:34Z")

</div>

There is an explosives skill? 😛

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![drake1storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/54ee81/32.png) [@drake1storm](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/drake1storm)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 1:12pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/25 "2013-05-11T13:12:12Z")

</div>

> [@Miloch](#):
>
> There is an explosives skill? 😛

No, but there should be. It requires more than a bit of chemistry knowledge and knowhow with a hacksaw to make a real explosive.

Basically, think of it like a “physics” skill.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Miloch](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/miloch/32/1339_2.png) [@Miloch](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Miloch)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 2:04pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/26 "2013-05-11T14:04:13Z")

</div>

I agree. I was just mainly giving you a hard time.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Slax](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/slax/32/5385_2.png) [@Slax](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Slax)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/27 "2013-05-11T15:39:06Z")

</div>

It’d teach you how to make niftier pipe bombs and such, I suppose. Recipes.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![drake1storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/54ee81/32.png) [@drake1storm](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/drake1storm)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/28 "2013-05-11T20:42:53Z")

</div>

> [@Slax](#):
>
> It’d teach you how to make niftier pipe bombs and such, I suppose. Recipes.

Possible explosives:

- time bomb  
-fertilizer bomb
- petrol bomb (mix of pipebomb and molotov)
- clock work bomb  
-etc

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Wuzzy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/wuzzy/32/41_2.png) [@Wuzzy](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Wuzzy)\
**Post date:** [May 12, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/29 "2013-05-12T01:45:10Z")

</div>

My first suggestion!

Speech:  
“The Art of Rhetoric”  
I suggest that this book covers skill levels 1 to 6, so this book is more useful than “Self-Esteem for Dummies”.  
Read time: 30 minutes  
INT required to read easily: 10

For comparison: “Self-Esteem for Dummies” takes 20 minutes to read, covers levels 1-3 only and requires only INT 5 to read it easily.

So if you got both books, you’d be better off reading “Self-Esteem for Dummies” first and from level 3 “The Art of Rhetoric”.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nopkar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/34f0e0/32.png) [@Nopkar](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Nopkar)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 10:43am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/30 "2013-05-13T10:43:44Z")

</div>

i know we have quite a few survival books but put this where you want, I just thought this was hilariously ironic:

“Your role in the coming Cataclysm, 2029 edition”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Wuzzy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/wuzzy/32/41_2.png) [@Wuzzy](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Wuzzy)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 11:03am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/31 "2013-05-13T11:03:14Z")

</div>

Commit [215ee8a0a975323737d0d5682f71e18321b07ba8](https://github.com/TheDarklingWolf/Cataclysm-DDA/commit/215ee8a0a975323737d0d5682f71e18321b07ba8) moved the book definitions to JSON.

However, it seems to me that the JSON definitions for the books are not used by the game yet.

Anyways, here is the JSON snippet for “The Art of Rhetoric”:

```auto
    {
        "type" : "BOOK",
        "id" : "manual_rhetoric",
        "name" : "The Art of Rhetoric",
        "max_level" : 6,
        "description" : "A translation of an ancient yet still comprehenshive text about speech.",
        "weight" : 2,
        "to_hit" : 1,
        "color" : "blue",
        "intelligence" : 10,
        "symbol" : "?",
        "material" : ["PAPER", "NULL"],
        "volume" : 4,
        "bashing" : 8,
        "cutting" : 0,
        "time" : 30,
        "fun" : 0,
        "skill" : "speech",
        "rarity": 20,
        "price": 200,
        "required_level" : 0
    }
```

As I said, I haven’t been able to test this book ingame, so do not consider above versioion “final”. 😉

Question: What are the color conventions for books? Especially, Does the color blue mean “advanced readers only” or does it mean that it covers advanced topics but makes no assumptions on wheather it may also be read by beginners? I assumed the latter. My book goes from 0 to 6, so would it be a good idea to introduce a new color?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mrnocamera](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/mrnocamera/32/61_2.png) [@Mrnocamera](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Mrnocamera)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/32 "2013-05-13T15:08:08Z")

</div>

More book ideas:

The SAS survival handbook - Medium survival knowledge, requires a intelligence level of 8 and a survival skill of 3, can bring your survival skill up to 5 and contains 1 recipe.

When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need to Survive When Disaster Strikes - Medium survival knowledge, requires a intelligence level of 7 and can be understood by beginners, can bring your survival skill up to 4 and contains 2 recipes.

The Trapper’s Bible: Traps, Snares & Pathguards - Medium trap knowledge, requires a intelligence level of 7 and a traps skill of 3, can bring your traps skill up to 4 and contains no recipes.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Pthalocy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/22d042/32.png) [@Pthalocy](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Pthalocy)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 5:46am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/33 "2013-05-15T05:46:35Z")

</div>

Art of War - Sun Tzu (combat tactics related skill)  
The Prince - Machiavelli (speech?)  
Inferno - Dante (Seriously it would be hilarious if this helped with survival, given it’s about a guy’s journey through all the layers of hell. We have so many already. It’d be great just as a misc book with a REALLY HIGH DIFFICULTY REQUREMENT for reading.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nopkar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/34f0e0/32.png) [@Nopkar](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Nopkar)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 5:50am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/34 "2013-05-15T05:50:02Z")

</div>

Battle of Agincourt: 1415  
Major archery skill book, 3-6 or so. (if you don’t know what this is, you should probably google it.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Morrigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Morrigi](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Morrigi)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/35 "2013-05-15T16:02:32Z")

</div>

I agree that more official military manuals should be added and found in bookstores, barracks (are barracks even a thing? If so, adding The Art of War would be a nice touch), and military surplus stores.

Speaking of bookstores, I picked up The Art of War and the official U.S. Army survival manual awhile back

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Pthalocy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/22d042/32.png) [@Pthalocy](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Pthalocy)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 9:33pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/36 "2013-05-15T21:33:08Z")

</div>

Hahaha, my brother read Art of War and found he applies a lot of the tactics in games like League already. I need to read it. I’ll edit this post if I come up with more books to add.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KA101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/278dde/32.png) [@KA101](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/KA101)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 12:20am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/37 "2013-05-16T00:20:07Z")

</div>

[quote=“Mrnocamera, post:32, topic:1062”]More book ideas:

The SAS survival handbook - Medium survival knowledge, requires a intelligence level of 8 and a survival skill of 3, can bring your survival skill up to 5 and contains 1 recipe.

When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need to Survive When Disaster Strikes - Medium survival knowledge, requires a intelligence level of 7 and can be understood by beginners, can bring your survival skill up to 4 and contains 2 recipes.

The Trapper’s Bible: Traps, Snares & Pathguards - Medium trap knowledge, requires a intelligence level of 7 and a traps skill of 3, can bring your traps skill up to 4 and contains no recipes.[/quote]

Uh, there’s already a How To Trap Anything" that covers 0-4. Trapper’s Bible seems redundant.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Miloch](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/miloch/32/1339_2.png) [@Miloch](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Miloch)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 6:51am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/38 "2013-05-16T06:51:34Z")

</div>

I think we should have a plethora of skill books that over laps. That way you have to search for the right book a bit more. 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KA101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/278dde/32.png) [@KA101](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/KA101)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/39 "2013-05-16T21:46:24Z")

</div>

I presume that bookshelves are mostly full already, and that books that show up to the player are ones that are useful. (Why would people grab shelves full of books when evacuating?! They’re heavy and somewhat bulky to transport.) Adding worse books just gets in the way.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Miloch](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/miloch/32/1339_2.png) [@Miloch](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Miloch)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2013, 5:38am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062/40 "2013-10-12T05:38:41Z")

</div>

So I’m seeing all these new books in game and I’m not seeing any of these fine suggested book names! I’m insulted, really! 😛

[Previous page](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/book-name-suggestions-skill-books/1062.md?page=1)