Should you adjust "time to spend" when reading a book?

[emitfudd]

I found a book and when I click on it to read it, it starts at 10 hrs. It can be adjusted all the way down to 1 hr. Why? Do you get the full effect of the book if you adjust it down to 1 hr?

Also, do you need to keep books you have already read? I just dropped mine from inventory in the grotto.

[MTZIGG]

The books take 10 hours to read . no matter how you add up the time if you read one hour you got to do that 10x

[CrankyOldGamer]

Originally posted by emitfudd:

I found a book and when I click on it to read it, it starts at 10 hrs. It can be adjusted all the way down to 1 hr. Why? Do you get the full effect of the book if you adjust it down to 1 hr?

Also, do you need to keep books you have already read? I just dropped mine from inventory in the grotto.

Nothing changes if you read the book 2 hours at a time or all 10 hours. Once it's read you get the skill and the book is then empty. Keep the books they added a bookshelf you can craft to display them all on. There will be three bookshelves total when your done reading and collecting all the books.

[emitfudd]

But what is the point of reading a 10 hr book 1 or 2 hrs at a time? I don't get it.

[Lord Skarra]

Originally posted by emitfudd:

But what is the point of reading a 10 hr book 1 or 2 hrs at a time? I don't get it.

Its incase your not in a safe spot, and you wanted to read the book for immersiveness.

Like most people said, go jump in your boat or house.

Read the book, get the skill, dump it in a chest and forget u had it.

[J]

It's a way to productively kill time.

For example, there's nine books you can collect in the Buffalo region. Smelting copper ore takes about 1.5 hours per task, and you have to baby-sit the smelter to reload it once the job's done.

Collecting the books and leaving them until you're ready to start smelting ore means you can do it all in one big batch, and read a book between each batch for an hour, cutting down the waiting time.

[Grumpy-Granddad]

Originally posted by J:

It's a way to productively kill time.

No its not. It is a way to have you spill resources like water. 10 ours reading costs way more water then 1 or 2 ours reading.

[J]

Originally posted by Grumpy-Granddad:

No its not. It is a way to have you spill resources like water. 10 ours reading costs way more water then 1 or 2 ours reading.

I don't personally bother with books until I've established the basics of water production (collectors, distillers), and food is so abundant that it's really not a concern beyond the first week.

Books, on the other hand, are a great source of unique perks. Some of them are fairly disappointing (wood chips recipe), whereas others are great (removal of food poisoning risk, remove salt requirement for dried food).

Honestly, unless you're trying to speed-run the game, I don't see the downside. I typically take my time, clearing each island of the valuable resources and building the core machines while processing the supplies I collect. Food dehydrators, smelters, skin dryers, water distillers, kilns, and a bunch of other machines all take time to process their inputs. Reading a book for an hour or two can pass the time productively if you don't need sleep.

[Jimbo]

I read books while I forge metals. However long it takes the ore to smelt just read that long que another and go back to reading. Also there is a perk you can get that makes books only take 5h.

[Cougarific]

Originally posted by emitfudd:

But what is the point of reading a 10 hr book 1 or 2 hrs at a time? I don't get it.

Yep forging metals takes 1 hour 30 minutes - read an hour at a time to speed-forge.

Also useful on rainy days for getting the most out of your water collector(s). Read two hours, drain your collectors. Read two hours, drain....

[Adalon]

Originally posted by emitfudd:

It can be adjusted all the way down to 1 hr. Why?

Smelt ore.
Fire the clay.
Etc.

Originally posted by emitfudd:

Also, do you need to keep books you have already read?

Place it on a bookshelf in your home. It looks beautiful.
That is why books remain now.
Previously, before the introduction of bookshelves into the game, they disappeared after reading.