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[DanielTDS]

I did a fast search by the forums but couldn't find any topic on the subject I'm going to talk about so, if it already exists, excuse me.

Well, I just had a very simple idea that might turn books more interesting ingame and valuable.

What if dwarves in fortress mode could go into a strange mood thst might result in a book being written and not necessarily an item being made? Of course, this kind of mood would be different from the ones we currently know.

For reading the book, a dwarf may opt to read the book while "on break"or with "no job" if he likes reading book (a new personality trait) or no need to like books at all.

Here are some ideas:
1 - The mood dwarf must have at least level novice and at maximum, level professional or above (open to discussion) on the skill he wants to write a book about. I put a maximum level in order to avoid exploits on making a dwarf go to no experience to master in one skill in one month just by reading books
2 - The reading dwarf must have lower skill than the book's skill in order to gain some points while reading it
3 - Re-reading a book does not grant any more skill points
4 - The idea is that this book reading should not give so much points in skill that one can get one level in skill just by reading it (therefore, no 500 point for book read)
5 - When a dwarf is going to write a book, he may choose which level of skill the wrriten book will have (he can write a book based on his actual level [respecting the level cap] or lower)

What do you guys think?

[FortressBuilder]

The skill level of the book could also be affected by the writer skill (which is currently unused) of the mood dwarf and the amount of experience gained by the reader skill of the reading dwarf.

I don't think a maximum skill level for the writer should be used, because why shouldn't a legendary dwarf write a book? Dwarves who read it will get more experience, but it would still be affected by traits, the dwarf's reader skill and his profession skill. Maybe the higher the reader's skill compared to the writer's, the less experience points?

Dwarves who like reading should get a happy thought, especially if they are reading about some topic they like.

It would also be nice to be able to build bookshelves, which are used to store books, and then create libraries from them. There dwarves would spend their free time reading books, which would probably give better experience points and social skills.

Caravans should also bring books to the fortress, which you could then buy and use to up-level your dwarves.

[DanielTDS]

Agreed to everything FortressBuilder said. Better than my original idea. I also think this is a very easy thing to implement in dwarf fortress if toady whishes to. It just has to be built properly. Maybe even some modder could try it?

[Sirbug]

I think it would be nice to let dwarves simply write books once in a while. Simply produce blank books and occasionally some dwarves would pick them and fill with info. Maybe as rare as mood or we would drown in them. Or hell, why not has library as vast as Elders Scrolls? NPC probably should also write more books, right now only necromancers do it, right?

The book should probably relate to their lives and some - to extraordinary accounts (The writing tells an account of author slaying megabeast, for example, or participating in siege). A dwarf with high skill might put lessons inside, that give experience, but, say, not higher then one grade below author's.

Perhaps some books should also be copied and sent to people.

[Graknorke]

Then again, if their conversation habits are anything to go by, everyone would just write mountains of books about a megabeast attack that happened one time halfway across the world.

[Bumber]

Lectures, school, and apprenticeships (This one mentions manuals are on the dev pages, but I can't find the entry.)
Skill books, education and teachers
Literature, libraries, and papermakers