Does anyone besides me that only concentrates on a few skills have a phobia about reading books? I like the stories and insights in books, but I am afraid that if I open one up **magic sound** there ups my speech skill or any other skill I am seriously avoiding.

I wish there was an option to take the skill raise point or not. This way I can enjoy books without having to avoid them at risk of leveling off of alteration for my warrior. As of now, I usually have to save before picking up a book just so I can reload after if I get an unwanted skill point.

Keep a http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Skill_Books of the titles and avoid the ones you don't want to read.

It's one skill-point, and some of the stories in skill books are epic. Bad tradeoff, in my opinion.

Nice list, solves big problem of unwanted skill points. But leaves a small one still lingering.. If I like to read, then I miss out on the literature. (unless save/load workaround)

I don't mind because they are few and far between. If you find 20 skill books by the time you have reached level 50, that is still only 2 levels worth of skills from the books.

The books that repeatedly start quests are annoying, like Legend of the Red Eagle. Did it, whoops accidentally clicked on that book again, quest restarted.

You could always read them online. I know what you mean, I try to play a non-magical character so when my destruction levels up from reading a book it's a little annoying.

You can tell if the book is just for reading purposes or if it's a skill book by looking at it's value: Most of the skillbooks have a value of 50 to 60, while most of the normal books have a lower value than that. That should work pretty well if you want to avoid those skillbooks.

This is another example of OCD. It's one thing to say "my character is gonna concentrate on skills X, Y and Z"; that's just good sense. But being so anol as to avoid books because you're afraid of one lousy skill point - that's just being an excessive planner. It's almost as bad as efficient leveling.

Another easy way to tell is the value, which you can see when you mouse over the book. The exact value will depend on your speech skill, but most books are just a few septims, while skill point books are considerably more- in the tens. For example, for me, most books are are around 5-8 septims, but skill ponnt books are between 50 and 75 septims.

I don't take credit for discovering that- I read it somewhere, but don't remember where. It's a great tip for anyone interested in knowing if a book is a skill book before you pick it up, whether you want to avoid it, or you are specifically looking for those types of books.

At low character levels, skill ups count more towards leveling. However at mid to higher levels a single skill up, even across a few skills, is not going to level your character. Skill books are rare enough that you will not come across that many between character levels.

Besides, if I level up reading about skills I don't use, I consider that a Free Perk to use on skills that I do use.

Somebody made a mod for Morrowind so that reading a book doesn't improve a skill; maybe someone will make one for Skyrim too?

I never understood why some people criticize other people for the way they play the game. I have heard things like, "your not doing it right" to this. Let others play the game how they want without the name calling. I am sure I do alot of things to get into RP that others don't do; ie if I do Companions then I won't do Mages guild etc...

But there a lot of good suggestions on here about book value and reading online..

So basically YOU want to read the books but you don't want your character to.... well I'm afraid there isn't a button to make your character hold the book above his head for you to read whilst averting his/her eyes from the contents of the pages.

Looks like you're **** out of luck.

Skill books usually have a value of 50 gold.

I'm not "name-calling" or saying anything derogatory about the OP, I'm just saying that it literally sounds excessively OCD. MIcromanaging this sort of thing is a tad bizarre. Some people turn into neat freaks with their games; I think that's where a good 75% of the desires for an editable quest-log are coming from: a desire to keep everything neat and NO...WIRE...HANGERS!!!!

If you want to RP more without taking the points, you could limit yourself to reading the books online only once you reach them.

Also, you don't have to alt+tab to the list on UESPWiki every time since usually skill books are more expensive than other books, and they have the logo of the skill on their covers (at least the magic schools... can't really remember others, come to think of it).

Someone above already gave you a list with the skill books you might want to avoid. If you really want to read the books, but want to avoid the skill increases then you can always read them at http://www.imperial-library.info/

Beyond that you'll have to wait for the Creation Kit. Someone is sure to mod the skill increases from books out.

Personally I don't avoid skill books. I don't go looking for them but I don't care about avoiding them. Imho it has an insignificant impact on leveling. But to each their own I suppose. If you wish to play an extremely purist build then that's your prerogative.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to keep any magic ability off your Nord Warrior.

Besides the price, you can tell the school of magic for skill books by the cover. If in doubt, save first. Then you can read it and reload.

I have a Nord Warrior as my only character so far, and he doesn't use any magic except the occasional healing spell. I haven't spent a single level on magic power.

But worrying that having one skill number tick up by a total of one is ruining your character ceases to be role-playing, and becomes character-sheet OCD, sort of like those people who have to keep their house antiseptic or they can just see the little germs crawling around.

Having a magic skill bumped from 15 to 16 by a skill book is utterly meaningless, and doesn't undermine the not-a-mage-at-all nature of your Nord Warrior, especially since, as far as I know, ALL characters start out knowing a few spells and having magic skills that are greater than zero.

It seems to me that the titles of the books give away the content of the book. If you don't want the skill point then you should want to read the story. Why would you want to read about thieves if you don't want to be a thief. And if you want to read about thieves then why would you care if you took away some knowledge from reading that book (hence the skill point).

If you want to read the books then read the books. Don't be afraid of the skills you gain, because that's why the book exists at all and if you want to read it then you should accept the BENEFIT that comes with having that knowledge.

not really becuase you can read the books on Wiki also.

For you. Others disagree. There is no right or wrong way to play. Learn some tolerance rather than disparaging someone else's play style.

I'm sorry; I didn't realize disagreement was frowned upon around here.

one point has almost 0 impact on RPing or actual game play to worry about it that much

just read the books and stop worrying about useless things