Skyrim:Skill Books

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Skill Book are special books that permanently increase a skill by one point for free. There are five different books for each of the 18 skills making 90 in total. Unlike trainers, there is no limit to how many skill books you can read at one level.

  • When you pick up a skill book, you automatically start to read it, and therefore you immediately obtain the skill bonus. As with all books, you can read skill books without it being considered theft—theft only occurs if you select to "Take" an owned book while reading it.
  • If you want to save a skill book for later, you can ask your follower to take or steal it for you.
  • Two skill points per book can be achieved if you choose the Scholar's Insight ability, obtained from The Winds of Change quest in the Dragonborn DLC.
  • Generally speaking, it's more efficient to read skill books when you are at a higher level in that skill, as the time and effort it takes to increase skills at high levels is much greater. For example, leveling Archery from level 15 to level 16 can be achieved with just a few attacks, thus using a skill book at this point is a waste. In contrast, leveling Archery from level 99 to 100 takes significantly more attacks, so reading a skill book here is much more efficient.

Locations[edit]

Skill books are only available at the places listed in the following table, or as quest rewards (e.g. Hitting the Books). They are never found in random loot (They can be found in Seeker remains in Apocrypha), and they are never part of a merchant's inventory. Skill books can be easily distinguished from most other books simply by looking at their value, which is usually around 50 gold or higher. Most other books are substantially less. They can be sold to any merchants who trade in books, i.e. spell and general goods merchants.

Title (ID) Skill Author Description Location
A Game at Dinner
De Rerum Dirennis
Herbalist's Guide to Skyrim
Mannimarco, King of Worms
Song of the Alchemists
Breathing Water
Daughter of the Niben
Reality & Other Falsehoods
Sithis
The Lunar Lorkhan
Father Of The Niben
The Black Arrow, v2
The Gold Ribbon of Merit
The Marksmanship Lesson
Vernaccus and Bourlor
A Dance in Fire, v2
Battle of Red Mountain
Death Blow of Abernanit
The Mirror
Warrior
2920, Frostfall, v10
2920, Hearth Fire, v9
Liminal Bridges
The Doors of Oblivion
The Warrior's Charge
A Hypothetical Treachery
Horror of Castle Xyr
Mystery of Talara, v3
Response to Bero's Speech
The Art of War Magic
A Tragedy in Black
Catalogue of Armor Enchantments
Catalogue of Weapon Enchantments
Enchanter's Primer
Twin Secrets
2920, MidYear, v6
Chimarvamidium
Hallgerd's Tale
Orsinium and the Orcs
The Knights of the Nine
2920, Sun's Dawn, v2
Before the Ages of Man
Incident at Necrom
Mystery of Talara, Part 4
The Black Arts On Trial
Ice and Chitin
Jornibret's Last Dance
Rislav The Righteous
The Rear Guard
The Refugees
Advances in Lockpicking
Proper Lock Design
Surfeit of Thieves
The Locked Room
The Wolf Queen, v1
2920, Morning Star, v1
Fire and Darkness
Mace Etiquette
Night Falls on Sentinel
The Importance of Where
Aevar Stone-Singer
Beggar
Guide to Better Thieving
Purloined Shadows
Thief
2920, Rain's Hand, v4
Mystery of Talara, v 2
Racial Phylogeny
The Exodus
Withershins
Cherim's Heart
Heavy Armor Forging
Last Scabbard of Akrash
Light Armor Forging
The Armorer's Challenge
2920, Last Seed, v8
Legend of Krately House
Sacred Witness
The Red Kitchen Reader
Three Thieves
2920, Second Seed, v5
A Dance in Fire, v6
A Dance in Fire, v7
Biography of the Wolf Queen
The Buying Game
Battle of Sancre Tor
King
Song Of Hrormir
The Legendary Sancre Tor
Words and Philosophy

Achievements[edit]

The achievement related to skill books is:

  • SR-achievement-Reader.png Reader (20 points/Bronze) — Read 50 Skill Books
    • To unlock this achievement 50 different skill books must be read, out of the 90 available.
    • Books count towards this achievement even if they are read after the related skill has reached 100. In this case, no message appears on screen informing you that you have read a new skill book, but the game's counter is still increased.
    • You can track your progress towards the achievement using the "Skill Books Read" statistic on the General page of your journal's General Stats.

Notes[edit]

  • If you find an additional copy of a skill book that you have already read, you will not receive any skill bonus for reading the additional copy.
  • They give experience, not just +1 to level. Guardian stone effect and rest bonus still applies.
    • However, these bonus does not sum up for additional +1 level. In order to gain maximum experience, avoid reading when your skill is about to level up.
  • Making a skill legendary does not reset skill books, so after a skill has been made legendary, the character will not receive any experience for that skill from any of its skill books that have already been read.

Bugs[edit]

  • On rare occasions, reading a skill book will report the skill being leveled, but not actually increase the skill's level. Being close to leveling the skill may increase the likelihood of this happening.
    • Save your game and check the skill's value before reading any books. If it doesn't increase after reading, reload the save and increase the level of the skill before reading the book.