Fallout 2 Walkthrough → Books in the Game
As you progress through the game, you'll come across a variety of books, magazines, and other items. They are divided into several groups based on their purpose:
General education books
Guns And Bullets
First Aid
Scout Handbook
Deans Electronics
Big Book of Science
"Guns and Bullets," "First Aid," "Scout Handbook," "Deans Electronics," and "Big Book of Science" each increase the Small Guns, First Aid, Outdoorsman, Repair, and Science skills, respectively, by one to five points (for tag skills). These books lose their effect when the corresponding skill is developed above 90%, so the maximum you can reach is 92-95%. Before that, it's better to spend your precious skill points elsewhere.
Books, like all other items, are scattered around in cabinets, tables, and pockets, sold in stores, and sometimes found in caravans. The rarest is the Scout Handbook; it's only regularly available in San Francisco and, very rarely, in caravans traveling from San Francisco to New Reno.
Quest books
Cat's Paws
Cat's Paws (special edition)
Lovender Flowers
Account Book
First and foremost, this is the frivolous Cat's Paws. You should collect it all the way and never sell it. With one of these magazines in your pocket, show up at Miss Kitty's Salon in New Reno; then you'll have another topic of conversation. The madam will offer to bring her ten magazines, after which she'll find in one of them the only book in the game that increases Energy Weapons by 10%.
Lovender Flowers is the favorite book of Becky the moonshiner from Den. You might even come across it before Becky asks you to find it, so don't throw it away and be careful not to steal it—someone told me how upset he was when a little street kid snatched it from his pocket and took it back to Becky, the bastard. Take
the Account Book, which is in the safe behind three locks in the robbers' lair, to Lynette in Vault City—make her happy, the viper.
Unnecessary books
Chemical Journals
T51 Power Armor
Chemical Journals. Sold by some slick Chinese guys in San Francisco. You can't tell it apart from the Big Book of Science until you try it. My advice: be careful what you buy :-).
T51 Power Armor Repair Manual. It's a good name, but I couldn't get any use out of it. Either my armor hadn't broken yet, or something. The only use for it is to sell it.
Book of books
Fallout 2 hintbook
A drunken priest from New Reno will give it to you as a reward for saving humanity from the Enclaves. It's an interesting book. The first time you read it, you'll get 10,000 XP and all skills up to 300%. The second time, another 10,000 XP, and so on up to level 99. Oh, I wish I had a book like this in my home village at the start of the game!
How do I level a skill above 92% with a book?
If you're well-off, you can spend Psycho and Buffout on education. The calculation is simple: all skills are calculated from the base stats: Small Guns from Agility, Outdoorsman from Endurance and Intelligence, First Aid from Perception and Intelligence, Science and Repair from Intelligence alone. Obviously, if you lower the primary stat, all the skills dependent on it will also decrease.
Then it's simple: inject one, two, three Psychos, Intelligence drops, and read the books (the reading time is counted by closing the Inventory window, so to save Psycho, you need to stock up on books). Buffout is more difficult: eat, wait for a reaction, and when exhausted, read books until it subsides. This way, you can level up skills to 110%.
Source: underworld.fortunecity.com.
See also: