Books
What TornLife's research has established about Books, and the questions players asked about it.
What TornLife has verified
- An item named Book is a Temporary weapon (ID 581) that lowers the opponent's respectability; it is not in the Books category. It sells for $20, circulation 9,872. It was once given to players reaching level 5 in Torn Lite on Facebook. (documented; Book › Historical Notes, )
- Stat-bonus books last 31 days: Fight Like An Asshole gives a passive 25% bonus to all stats; Mind Over Matter, No Shame No Pain, Run Like The Wind and Weaseling Out Of Trouble each give a passive 100% bonus to Strength, Defense, Speed and Dexterity respectively. Get Hard Or Go Home gives +20% all gym gains. (documented; Books › List — table (rows 1/3), )
- Additional gym books: Gym Grunting, Self Defense In The Workplace, Speed 3 and Limbo Lovers 101 each give +30% gym gains for one stat (Strength, Defense, Speed, Dexterity) for 31 days. The Hamburglar's Guide To Crime gives +25% crime skill and experience gain (currently unavailable). (documented; Books › List — table (rows 2/3), )
- The wiki lists book effects. Permanent-on-completion books: Brawn Over Brains, Time Is In The Mind, Keeping Your Face Handsome and A Job For Your Hands raise strength, speed, defense or dexterity by 5% up to 10,000,000. Working 9 Til 5 raises all working stats by 5% up to 2,500 each. (documented; Books › List — table (rows 1/3), )
- Other 31-day books: Get Drunk And Lose Dignity doubles alcohol, Fuelling Your Way To Failure energy drink, Yes Please Diabetes candy effects. Ugly Energy sets max energy to 250. Hot Turkey gives no drug addiction. Running Away From Trouble guarantees escape. Memories And Mammaries copies the last used book. Duke - My Story is unavailable. (documented; Books › List — table (rows 3/3), )
- Regeneration and cooldown books last 31 days: Higher Daddy, Higher! +20% energy regeneration; The Real Dutch Courage doubles nerve regeneration; Because I'm Happy doubles happiness regeneration; No More Sick Days doubles life regeneration; Self Control Is For Losers -50% consumable cooldowns; Going Back For More -50% medical cooldowns. (documented; Books › List — table (rows 3/3), )
- Patch notes say 8 active book effects are logged in the Activity Log upon book completion, so effects begin when the book is completed. (confirmed by Torn; Patch list #150 : 14/07/20 — changes to Activity Log (2020-07-14), )
- Self Control Is For Losers cuts candy, alcohol and energy drink cooldowns by 50%, alongside company specials such as Fast Metabolism (-10%) and Professional Metabolism (-25%). (documented; Item Cooldowns › Specials that affect cooldown / City Finds / Cooldown-affected…, )
- Other one-off books: Making Friends, Enemies, And Cakes adds +100 to friends, enemies and targets list capacity; High School For Adults gives a free merit reset; Milk Yourself Sober removes a substantial amount of drug addiction. (documented; Books › List — table (rows 1/3), )
- After reading, the game tracks it: a personal book read status (yes/no) was added to item dropdowns in 2021, a Books Read personal stat is recorded, and the Bibliophile award is given for reading 10 books. (confirmed by Torn; Patch list #175 : 12/01/21 — changes to Item (2021-01-12), )
- Each book in the list has a Mission Credits range, e.g. 678 - 1887 for Brawn Over Brains and 1653 - 1986 for Run Like The Wind. (documented; Books › List — table (rows 1/3), )
- A 2018 patch changed the mission book bonus to apply to all current contracts rather than only newly spawned ones. (confirmed by Torn; Patch list #34 : 27/02/18 — changes to Mission (2018-02-27), )
- The wiki Perks page says the maximum book perks is 1: only one book can be read at a time. Book effects run for 31 days. (documented; Perks › Personal Perks › Books (2/2), )
- More 31-day books: Old Folk +25% all EXP; Medical Degree -50% hospital times; No More Soap On A Rope -50% jail times; Mailing Yourself Abroad -25% travel times; Smuggling For Beginners +10 travel items; Stealthy Stealing guaranteed stealth; Ignorance Is Bliss happiness above max; Winking To Win doubles contract credit and money. (documented; Books › List — table (rows 2/3), )
- Finders Keepers is described as drastically increasing city item spawns; its 2024 infobox says +2500% awareness for 31 days. (documented; Perks › Personal Perks › Books (2/2), )
- Books are bought with mission credits in the mission shop. Six random rewards show at a time; unpurchased ones rotate every 7 days. Credits come from missions, contracts, and job points traded in a 10 star Private Security Firm. (documented; Mission › Introduction › Mission credits, )
- The Books read personal stat has been recorded since the books release date (patch #42, 24/04/18) and shown from patch #43 (08/05/18). Reading a book counts toward it. (confirmed by Torn; Personal Stats/Patch History (3/3), )
- Torn staff distinguish Stat Enhancers (Skateboard, Dumbbells, Boxing Gloves, Parachute) from Temporary Boosters (Melatonin, Epinephrine, Serotonin, Tyrosine) as separate item categories with separate merit/honor tracking; books form a third, distinct category not covered by this clarification. (confirmed by Torn; Failed to receive merit and honor bar for SE use, )
- The wiki gives the effect of Brown-nosing The Boss (item ID 786) as greatly increasing personal employee effectiveness for 31 days. It gives no exact figure. (documented; Book : Brown-nosing The Boss (infobox), )
- The book lasts 31 days. It has been offered as a Subscriber Reward monthly reward (2021 capture). Its mission credit cost ranges from 948 to 1981. (documented; Subscriber Reward › Monthly Rewards — Monthly Rewards (rows 3/4), )
- The Torn Wiki's item infobox for Book : Milk Yourself Sober (item ID 751) gives its in-game description and states its sole effect: 'Removes a substantial amount of drug addiction upon completion.' No mention is made anywhere in the description of overdose chance, immunity, or protection. (documented; Book : Milk Yourself Sober (infobox), )
- The book's only documented mechanic is reducing accumulated drug addiction points; nothing in the wiki page, its infobox, or developer bug-fix posts about the book describes any change to overdose probability. A developer (Chedburn) confirmed in 2016 that the effect is real and 'kicks in instantly, as soon as the book is completed,' addressing only an addiction-icon display bug, not overdose chance. (confirmed by Torn; Book : Milk Yourself Sober (infobox), )
- Torn restricts players to reading one book at a time; attempting to start a second book while one is active produces the error 'You are already reading a book,' as shown in an unrelated book-bug report where a dev confirmed the underlying issue was resolved. (confirmed by Torn; The Book : High School For Adults book has error?, )
- A developer confirmed that taking an energy drink while already at or near the 1000 energy cap only grants the energy actually needed to reach the cap, not the drink's full nominal value. This implies reading the book while energy is already near-full wastes part of the doubling, supporting use only during planned heavy consumption. (confirmed by Torn; Can take E cans when at 1000 enerfy, )
Questions about Books
- What do books do in Torn, and can they be used for anything after being read?
Books give a bonus when read: either a one-off effect on completion (for example +5% to a battle stat up to 10,000,000, a merit reset or less drug ad…
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