What do books do?

[Stogie]

I see they buy for like 8000 dollars. Are they worth it?

[Thril]

Some increase your stats after reading them, others increase your stats while they are in your inventory. Early on, there's better things to spend your money on, but later you'll have so much money that it's worth it.

[lionhart]

A few of them are worth it. The "Life of Alexinus the Great" gives a permanent +1 increase to leadership skill. "Essays on Logic" gives +1 INT and +1 skill point. The "Manual of Arms" is good to have as well. Those are usually the only ones I bother with.

[Paperclip *PIRX*COP*]

Consider buying them later once your character becomes rich. It won't make a lot of sense to get them early on in the game because you can use the money for other, more important things (like starting up a business, etc.).

[Killroy]

They become very handy late game.
But the ones that provide a constant bonus( to any skill) are worth it.

[Stogie]

How do I know which ones provide a constant bonus?

[kaiyl_kariashi]

They'll say. It'll say Gives +1 X-skill while in inventory. They're also the cheapest books. They DO NOT stack however, so don't buy more then 1 of the same reference book.

If the book has an intelligence requirement, then it has to be read via the camp menu and gives a permament bonus once finished.

Unless you're playing Silverstag, you can sell the permament stat books once you've read them completely. Silverstag allows companions to also read books and get the benefits, so it's worth holding on to them.

[FaPaThY]

Also, for the books that give +1 skill after reading, use them when the skill is level 9 to save/not waste stat points. If you use it earlier, you'll still need 30 in a stat to hit level 10.

[Sol4rSky]

To read the book you must be on the campaign map, and hit CAMP on the left side bottom, then "take an action" and "read a book" or so.

[Killroy]

Originally posted by Crippled Mafia:

How do I know which ones provide a constant bonus?

Varries
6k-12k

[Sohei]

Here.

http://mountandblade.wikia.com/wiki/Books

[Miiiiiiiiiiiiike]

You can lower thr price of them (and all other goods) by increasing your trade skill. It also increase the re-sale price of them as well.

[Flurg]

Reviving old post, but I don't care..

Originally posted by FaPaThY:

Also, for the books that give +1 skill after reading, use them when the skill is level 9 to save/not waste stat points. If you use it earlier, you'll still need 30 in a stat to hit level 10.

THANK YOU! I've been hunting the internet for this answer for a while now.

I would have simply tried it myself, but I'm playing auto-save mode and in addition my characters already pretty high level so I did not want to risk it.

Thanks again guy who will probably never see this post :)