Contemporary Reading - Paradise Plaza
[Sports]: Hold onto sporting goods (bowling balls, soccer balls, baseball bats, boomerangs, etc.) three times as long as usual. Mostly useful for baseball bats. It's unsure if this lets you pick up and throw soccer balls and bowling balls more often you normally would (eventually they disappear).
[Hobby]: Hold onto toys three times longer than normal. Not very useful, as toys are generally going to be more good for laughes than actually killing enemies. Items like stuffed bears, toy cube, boomerangs, and toy laser swords are affected.
[Camera 1] : Get a 25% PP boost from photography. Stacks with Wartime Photography.
[Weekly Photo Magazine]: Gives you a visual cue as to when it's best to take pictures for maximum PP. Generally these icons pop up just as a zombie is lunging towards you, making this magazine more annoying than helpful. Most bosses and civilian encounters have these icons automatically for their PP events, as well, without needing the magazine.
Bachman's Bookporium - Paradise Plaza
[Entertainment]: Hold onto entertainment goods three times longer than usual. Includes bass, acoustic, and electric guitars, as well as the small chainsaw.
[Horror Novel 2]: Get a 25% boost to PP from defeating zombies. This only accrues after every 50th zombie, making it difficult to get much use out of in melee combat. If you have one on you when you kill your 1,000th zombie, though, you'll gain a large amount of extra PP, and you can double your gains by grabbing Horror Novel 1 as well. Apart from that, there's no need to lug this around; the bulk of your points in the game will come from escorting civilians and defeating psychopaths.
[Engineering]: Hold onto tools and construction items twice as long as usual. This includes lead pipes, 2' x 4's, chainsaws, and small chainsaws.
[Interior Design]: Hold onto interior design items three times longer than usual. Affected items include chairs, stools, paintings, and TVs. Generally these are unwieldy items, making this book less than useful.
We *** Books - Entrance Plaza
Book [Wartime Photography]: Get a 25% PP boost from photography. Stacks with Camera 1.
Book [Cooking]: Your mixed juices' effects last twice as long. Best used with Zombait while performing lengthy escort sequences.
Book [Cycling]: Allows you to perform a trick while riding a bike, and lets you use bikes three times as long as normal.
Book [Travel]: Hold onto travel and shopping goods three times longer than usual. (Pick Ax, Benches, Shopping Carts, Handbags, etc.)
The Sinister Read - Entrance Plaza
Book [Health 2]: The healing effects of food items are boosted by 50%. Stacks with Health 1 and Survival.
Book [World News]: Get a 25% PP bonus related to survivor-related activities. It's unclear what precisely this means, although it would seem to affect your escort PP bonuses.
Book [Horror Novel 1]: Get a 25% boost to PP from defeating zombies. This only accrues after every 50th zombie, making it difficult to get much use out of in melee combat, but if you use it while going for a spin through the maintenance tunnels, you can rapidly level up. Stacks with Horror Novel 2.
Book [Lifestyle Magazine]: Hold onto furniture, fixtures, and other daily living supplies three times longer than usual. Things like chairs, stools, hedge trimmers, sickles, shampoo, hangar, etc. Nothing you'd actually want to use as a weapon for extended periods of time.
Sir Book-A-Lot - Wonderland Plaza
[Criminal Biography]: Hold onto edged weapons (knives, katanas, sickles, hedge trimmers) three times longer than usual. Very, very handy book to carry around if you're a fan of the katana or hunting knives. If you like yourself some chainsaw action, then grab both this and the Engineering book from Bachman's Bookporium in Paradise Plaza to hold onto chainsaws nine times longer than usual. Also works on the small chainsaws that Adam drops.
[Japanese Conversation]: Learn to speak rudimentary Japanese, allowing you to communicate with some of the non-English speaking mall denizens. This only comes in handy during the "Japanese Tourists" Scoop mission, but it's required to pass that mission.
[Skateboarding]: Gain the ability to perform a skateboarding trick.
[Health 1]: The healing effects of food items are boosted by 50%. Works cumulatively with Health 2 for double the bonus.
Empty Store - North Plaza
You gain access to these books if you complete the "Hatchet Man" Scoop mission. You can pick them up near the survivors in that store, but they'll always be there again if you need to go back and pick them up.
[Wrestling]: Damage done with fists and unarmed attacks is significantly increased. Not tremendously useful, unless you're an extreme fan of the double lariat move.
[Survival]: Food items' healing ability boosted by 100%.
Colby's Movieland - Paradise Plaza
You gain access to this book if you complete the "Strange Group" Scoop mission.
[Brainwashing 101]: When carried, escorted survivors are less likely to be afraid of zombies, and will require less hand-holding to get them to the Security Room.
Grab two chainsaws and your set for the rest of the game.
