This guide will provide you with the most efficient routes and locations for finding skill books in Fallout: New Vegas. Unlike other guides that categorize by skill books, we will focus on the actual locations in the game. With over 1350 hours of gameplay, you can trust in my expertise to help you become a skillmaxxed chad with the perk of comprehension. Say goodbye to confusing wiki pages and become the ultimate player in no time.
Introduction
SPOILERS AHEAD!
I tried to be as vague as I could but let’s be honest I don’t think you’re skill book hunting on your first playthrough ever. Unfortunately, some spoilers are inevitable if I have to explain where to find these books, but I tried not to spoil your exploration too much 😀
Consider picking up these skill books and keeping them in your inventory until you get comprehension for an extra point. I usually always get this perk and its requirements are being level 4 and having intelligence 4. If you’re not gonna get this perk feel free to use them up immediately as the books weigh 2 each. You’ll get 3 points without comprehension and 4 with it.
All the major DLCs add some skill books. I will be explaining how to find them in their own sections, but i feel like I have to clarify that the Honest Hearts skill books are NOT a guaranteed spawn and they’re actually pretty rare; they have a chance to spawn in workbench crates and there’s only four of them in the whole DLC. They’re fairly easy to find if you’re following the survivalist’s subplot but fair warning, they most commonly have pretty underwhelming generic loot in them. If you want to reroll for skillbooks in these crates, drop a quicksave BEFORE you enter the cave with the crate inside it.
Regarding Old World Blues, there’s a couple guaranteed spawns and all the other books you can obtain by crafting them with a recipe and blank books. Keep in mind you can craft only one of each type.
Goodsprings, Sloan, Primm and close-by areas
These are the skillbooks I always tend to go out of my way to pick up in the order I’ve listed. Since I wanted to make this accessible to newer players, I explained everything in detail and provided some tips 🙂
– One Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual [sneak] in Trudy and Sunny’s house (big white house just right of Victor’s shack or the schoolhouse).
On the second bookshelf right when you enter the house.
Picking this up is considered stealing, so go during the day or make sure you’re crouched and hidden while taking it.
-One Wasteland Survival Guide [survival] inside the trailer. It’s located next to the metal box beside the mattress on the floor at the back of the trailer.
To get to Lone Wolf Radio, fast travel to Goodsprings source. Climb up following the broken down radio towers to the north. Keep following this route until the road gets to a climb to the right. Trek up this route and you should see the trailer. No enemies besides geckos nearby the radio towers.
-One Dean’s Electronics [repair] inside the worker barracks. Enter and look left at the shelves, it’s on the top shelf.
-One Duck and Cover! [explosives] inside the worker barracks. Enter and go straight to the lockers at the back of the room. Look at the left locker, its under the shelf with the first aid box on it.
Picking both of these up is considered stealing so don’t get caught.
-One Lying, Congressional Style [speech] on the second floor of the Administration building. Climb up the stairs and go through the left door, it’s on the desk in the right corner furthest from the stairs with the terminal and the empty bottle.
-One Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor [barter] inside the gift shop of the Bison Steve Hotel. Enter the hotel and go straight to the big door in front of you. While facing the corridor, enter the first room on your left, go behind the counter and look to the floor, there’s a hard locked safe (unique revolver inside btw) and the book should be on top of the safe.
DANGEROUS AREA
Radiation and ghouls. The game always spawns at least two reavers no matter your level and they hit pretty hard at low levels. The saving grace is that they are very dumb and they tend to get stuck on rocks 9 times outta 10. Consider approaching while sneaking.
-One D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine [medicine]. Enter the shack (Hell’s motel) and fight the crazed Mister Handy. The book is on a bookshelf directly on your right when you enter. If you blew up the robot check around because it might’ve fallen on the floor. You can reach the crater by going east of the canyon wreckage where you start Lonesome Road.
DANGEROUS AREA
Giant radscorpions, be very careful if you’re low level as they’re tanky and hit pretty hard.
To get here you can just go straight left from the Mesquite Mountains Crater or southeast from Mojave Outpost.
-One Wasteland Survival Guide [survival] inside the south tent. This skillbook is prone to glitching and falling off the map before/when you pick it or something else up, drop a quicksave as you approach.
-One Guns and Bullets [guns] inside the building you enter through the door with a funny swear word painted on it. It’s on the desk right in front of the door to the rest of the building.
This location is on the road between Primm and Mojave Outpost. There’s an ambush waiting for you behind the building as you approach and a few Jackals outside and inside. The inside ones only have melee weapons.
-One Pugilism Illustrated [unarmed] inside the store. Enter and look to the left, it’s on the bookshelf closest to the counter.
-One Duck and Cover! [explosives] inside the barracks building. You can buy this from Lacey or steal it, the physical copy is behind the counter on the bottom shelf. My reccommendation is to pick it up with Z and run to the room with the beds while holding it, then crouch until hidden and steal it.
Nipton, Novac and nearby areas
These are also skillbooks I tend to pick up often since they’re pretty early game and in areas I’m passing through. Some of these are definitely detours, but they’re all in the same general area.
– One Big Book Of Science [science, duh] in the Nipton Town Hall. Go up to the third floor and open the door on the left and you’ll be in the Mayor’s office. The book is in front of his terminal.
-One Tumblers Today [lockpick] inside the shack. As you leave Nipton, it’s on the right side of the bridge where the traveling merchants spawn. There’s a doorless fridge, look closely at the floor in front of it because it blends into it.
-One Wasteland Survival Guide [survival] in the first building as you approach from Wolfhorn Ranch (the right one if you’re looking at the two buildings from the front). From Wolfhorn Ranch, go east until you see two big ruined buildings with malnourished animals roaming in front of them. Climb upstairs and look at the floor on the right, it’s laying on the planks.
-One Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual in the eastern church’s basement. Look to the left and there will be some metal shelves, the book is on the floor next to them.
-One D.C. Journal Of Internal Medicine inside Ranger Andy’s bungalow. It’s the second bungalow on the left of the big dinosaur. The book is on the bed and taking it is considered stealing.
-One D.C. Journal Of Internal Medicine in the main building. Go upstairs and it will be laying on a single bed with a pillow on it.
-One Big Book Of Science. This book is tied to one of the endings of the “That Lucky Old Sun” quest. Spoilers Ahead: If you complete the quest by giving power to the full region, Ignacio Rivas (the followers character in the lab coat) will give it to you as a quest reward .
-One Big Book Of Science inside the command center tent. On the desk on your left as you enter.
-One Grognak the Barbarian in Aurelius of Phoenix’s office. On the nightstand next to the bed.
Major Locations / easy to reach areas
These are the skillbooks I consider to be in “main” areas of the game, maybe because they’re tied to important quests or just close to New Vegas, you’ll probably find yourself around here in most playthroughs.
– One Nikola Tesla And You [Energy Weapons] in the Brotherhood’s bunker. After you have been granted access, go to the first floor and into Schuler’s office. It’s inside an open white plastic bin.
-One Nikola Tesla and You on the second floor. It’s on a desk in the office next to a very easy locked terminal. I reccommend using your pip boy light to spot it.
-Another Nikola Tesla and You on top of the safe in the room with the unique plasma rifle, which you can access by either cracking a Very Hard door or terminal or accessing the room with the collapsed floor upstairs.
-One Big Book of Science in the gift shop. Go to the gift shop (right door) from the main entrance, then unlock the hard locked door (no key available) on the left and it will be on the counter.
-One Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual inside the worker barracks in the fenced in area. There are a lot of doors here, this structure is in the northern side of the location. Enter and look at the desk in the corner where you’ll find it on some clutter.
-One Lying, Congressional Style inside Cerulean Robotics. To get here, go inside the ruined house on the left of the Atomic Rush and enter the door. Turn left and walk straight past all the rubble until you have to turn left again and you’ll reach a more open area where you’ll find this building. Go inside and open the door to the factory part of the building and you’ll see a conveyor belt with some scrap on it, on the floor next to it is where you’ll find the book. It’s very well concealed with papers and such so it might take a while.
GOMORRAH
-One Guns and Bullets in Big Sal’s office above Brimstone. You either have to open a very hard locked door or it will be open during/after the quest “How Little We Know”. It’s on top of the bookshelf inside the office.
THE TOPS
-One Pugilism Illustrated inside the presidential suite. You can gain access with a key Benny gives you in certain routes to take care of him, or you can pick it up off his dead body lol. It’s on a small table next to an armchair in the pool table room.
-One Duck and Cover! inside Pearl’s barracks. It’s on a bookshelf behind the sofa. Taking it is considered stealing.
-One Dean’s Electronics inside Loyal’s house, on the table beside a broken terminal. Taking it is considered stealing.
-One Grognak The Barbarian in the southernmost bungalow. It’s on the floor in front of the oven.
-One Tumblers Today inside the shack. Enter the shack and go into the left room, it’s on top of the desk with the broken terminal on it. To get to this location keep going upwards from where you have raised the plane for the boomers, it’s just north of Calville Bay.
-One D.C. Journal Of Internal Medicine inside the safehouse. To get the key (unpickable lock) and the loaction you need to have an idolized reputation with the followers and you need to talk to Julie Farkas. The book is on the nightstand next to the bed on the right.
-One Duck and Cover! inside the tent, on top of the table.
Out of the way locations
In this section you’ll find all the skillbooks that I personally think are pretty out of the way, in locations you wouldn’t necessarily visit in most playthroughs unless you were skill book hunting. As these aren’t in any particular order, I’ve organized them by skill book category and not general location. Since they’re pretty unknown places, I decided to add their map marker locations to this guide. Images courtesy of the fallout fandom wiki.
-One in Brewer’s beer bootlegging. Go to the downstairs cellar section and navigate to the backroom. There’s a table with a chemistry set and the book on it.
-One in Southern Nevada Wind Farm. Enter the shack and it will be on the table in the center. Beware of cazadores 🙂
-One in Cannibal Johnson’s cave. Beware of traps 😀 on the mattress near the campfire.
-One in Hidden supply cave. On top of the metal box to the right after entering.
-One in Brooks Tumbleweed Ranch. Enter the big shack and go upstairs, the book is on a shelf next to a dresser.
-One in Lucky Jim Mine. Enter the shack and look at the beds, it’s on the bottom shelf next to them.
-One at the Old Nuclear Test site. Beware of this area if you’re low level. Enter the shack, it’s on the table in front of you.
-One in Fisherman’s pride shack. On the bedside table on the right next to the lamp.
-One in Allied Technologies Offices. In the room at the right with the vending machines, go in front of them and look closely at the floor because the book is kinda hard to spot since it’s blending in with papers.
-One in Cap Counterfeiting shack. Enter the shack and go inside the basement. As you get off the stairs there will be a room with suitcases directly in front of you. The book is on top of the suitcases.
-One in The Prospector’s Den. Enter the building inside the cave and go to the second door, enter the room and it will be on the floor in the right corner.
-One in Silver Peak Mine. Enter the shack and look to the right, it’s on the middle locker really close to the floor. Look to the ground.
-One in Scavenger Platform. Basically in the middle of lake mead, you can get here by swimming or finding it while doing the Boomers’ quest. The book is in the part that’s the most northern, on a fallen shelf.
Vaults
There are six vaults in Fallout New Vegas, only four of which contain skill books. There is one skill book per vault, so I will be listing them by vault in numerical order.
– One Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual [sneak] in the living quarters section of the vault. As you enter from the recreation area immediately in front of you there is an average locked room, crack it open (no key) and you’ll find yourself inside a bedroom. Look to the right and you will find a shelf where the book is sitting.
– One Pugilism Illustrated [unarmed] in the living quarters. As you enter the female dorm, go through the second door on the right. There’s a fallen over dresser and the book is on the floor next to it.
– One Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor [barter]. Go to the 5th level, pest control. Turn left and climb the stairs to a large room with cave access, on the left side of the room you’ll find a table with the book on it.
– One Guns and Bullets [guns] in the armory common room. It’s a room with two sofas and a metal table in between them; the book is on the little table, turn on your pipboy light to see it better as it’s easy to miss sometimes.
Honest Hearts
As mentioned in the introduction, Honest Hearts skill books are NOT a guaranteed spawn. They have a chance to spawn in workbench crates and there’s only four of these crates in the whole DLC.
If you want to reroll for skillbooks in these crates, drop a quicksave BEFORE you enter the cave with the crate inside it. In my personal opinion doing this is not worth it as the chance for one to spawn is about 4-3%.
You COULD find a Big Book of Science, Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual, D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine, Dean’s Electronics, Lying, Congressional Style, Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor or a Tumblers Today.
1) The first crate is in Angel Cave. You get here by following the main story and meeting Joshua Graham inside this cave. The workbench is on the right of Joshua’s gun table. If you reroll this crate you’ll have to sit through all of Joshua’s dialogue before you can check it.
2) The second crate can be found in Fallen Rock Cave in the Survivalist’s living quarters. There’s traps in this cave. Nearby the Dead Horses camp and Angel Cave.
3) The third crate can be found in Cueva Guarache in the Survivalist’s living quarters in the southern end of the cave. You’ll probably have to explore this, but you can bypass most of the cave through a hard locked door concealed by plants; look to the right as you enter. Traps here as well. This cave is west of the general store.
4) The fourth crate can be found in Stone Bones Cave in the Survivalist’s living quarters. You can find the cave by exploring the Sorrows’ camp and nearby areas. Kind of maze-like and confusing but you’ll probably bump into it without too much trouble. Traps in here as well, no faster bypass afaik, you have to go through the cave.
Dead Money
Yay, everyone’s favorite pain in the ass DLC (I absolutely love Dead Money)!
I will be walking you through these following the order of the main quests, so I’ll do the Villa, then Puesta del Sol, then Salida del Sol. You get it
-One Dean’s Electronics in Elijah’s room. On the left as you go down the stairs. You can get inside this room before the dlc starts with lockpick, if you come after you’re done the door will be unlocked. The book is on the metal sill in front of the reloading bench.
-One Pugilism Illustrated in the Villa opposite the fountain where you talk to Elijah, it’s on the ground and can be hard to spot.
-One Grognak The Barbarian in the Villa Police Station. Inside the basement where you get the tape for Dog there’s a generator room with a janitor’s closet, enter the closet and look to the floor in front of the filing cabinets, it’s a little hard to spot.
-One Duck and Cover! in the Residential District. In the room where you meet Dean Domino under the bed. This one’s weird because you can’t really pick it up, you should have Dean as a companion or have sent him to the fountain to avoid hurting him and then you can throw explosives at the bed until the physics engine freaks out and it slides out? Try not to blow yourself up
-One D.C. Journal Of Internal Medicine in the Villa Clinic. It’s in the basement of the clinic where you go shut off the power. It’s on the shelves next to the workbench.
-One Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual in the Puesta del Sol Switching Station, where you’ll leave Christine for her quest. The book is in the easternmost room of the switching station. You have to jump on the catwalk around the south side to pick it up. It’s the only catwalk you can jump onto and get back up from. Drop a quicksave before you jump.
-One Dean’s Electronics in the Puesta del Sol Switching Station. This one is a pain in the ass and you’ll probably explode. In the big room with the cloud at the bottom and the broken catwalk, go down the stairs and turn right. Follow this path to another set of stairs. At the top, turn right and run to the room with the corpse on the floor, disable the tripwire and the book is at the corpse’s feet. You can disable some speakers in this room but I’d advise you to get here with Christine.
-One Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor in Salida del Sol SOUTH. There’s a ruined building in front of the door you use to enter the Salida del Sol house which brings you to the north, as you enter this building it’s on a bookshelf on the second floor.
-One Tumblers Today in the Casino, it’s in the southeast room on the third floor on top of a tool cabinet.
-One Guns and Bullets in the Casino where you can gamble. Go upstairs and walk on the ceiling beams until you can fall into the cashier’s area, it’s on the floor.
-One Lying Congressional Style in the Tampico. Its on the shelves next to the projector where you go activate the friendly holograms before confronting Dean.
-One Big Book Of Science in the Executive Suites in Vera’s Suite where Christine is, at the end of the maze. It’s on a bookshelf on the left before you enter her bedroom proper.
-One Nikola Tesla and You in the Sierra Madre Vault. Before you enter the last room and confront Elijah, you can drop yourself on a pipe in front of the vault door, where you’ll find Sinclair’s skeleton and a duffle bag with the book inside it. You’ll be poisoned by the cloud. You can get back up by going west and climbing up the pipe and onto the main catwalk.
Old World Blues
You can find three skill books naturally spawning in OWB, all the others will have to be crafted with a recipe plus 25 blank books (you get these by feeding books to the book chute in the sink) and two wonderglues (the dlc is absolutely full of them so do explore!). I will start with the skill books you can find by exploring and then the recipes. Remember that each recipe can only make ONE book.
-One Big Book of Science nearby the Y-0 Research Center. It’s easiest to get here from the Forbidden Zone entrance. As the map marker pops up, go south of the trucks. You can find a skeleton on the ground and the book is laying beside it.
Fast travel back to the Y-0 center and climb the trucks to get on the roof of the research center, there’s Another skeleton: this is where the Melee Weapons skill book recipe will be.
-One Chinese Army: Spec Ops Training Manual in the X-13 Research Facility. As you start putting the suit together, in the room where the chest plate is, look at the floor opposite the door.
-Enter the stealth testing lab and go across the bridge. Take the left door (other observation area) and go into the RECEPTION observation area on the left. Go across the center bridge and look to the left at a vent entrance and enter it, this is where you’ll find the Lockpick skill book recipe.
-Another Chinese Army: Spec Ops Training Manual in the X-13 Research Facility, this one is a reward for completing all the stealth suit tests and you’ll find it in the safe next to the terminal you use to start them.
As you’re at the testing facility enter the test entrance door and turn right. Go through the door on the left. There’s a wall with a Repconn poster, take the right door. Go through the hole in the wall in the right, keep going through the other hole straight in front of you and you will see two fridges, this is where the Sneak skill book recipe will be, between them.
–Repair skill book recipe in 0’s house #00, on the second floor there’s a table with a toolbox, look opposite the table at the shelf with all the unmovable set dressing and crouch, it’s on the bottom between two radio thingies. Might see it better from the side.
–Science skill book recipe in Mobius’ house #102, on the second floor upon entering the right room, it’s on top of a terminal.
–Medicine skill book recipe in Borous’ house #103, on the second floor in the bedroom, on a shelf by the desk.
–Speech skill book recipe in Dala’s house #104, on the second floor in the mirror room on top of a radio directly as you enter.
–Barter skill book recipe in the Signal Hills Transmitter room. Enter the building, look to the ground on the right. It’s on the floor next to some scrap.
–Energy Weapons skill book recipe inside the Z-38 lightwave dynamics research, go all the way up the catwalk and there’s a screen/projector to the left, it’s lodged between it and the desk its sitting on.
–Explosives skill book recipe. Go to the X-7a “Left Field” artillery launch and enter the command center. There’s a skeleton guy with a nuclear warhead up his butt. Look at the console right above him and the recipe holotape is sitting there.
As you’re here, go outside, climb the catwalk and fire the test cannons, because you need to do this to get the guns skill book recipe.
–Guns skill book recipe. After firing the test cannons go to X-7b “Boom Town” target zone. There’s a smoking crater in the northwest with a footlocker inside it and that’s where the holotape spawns.
–Survival skill book recipe in Little Yangtze. Enter from the door next to the watchtower and enter the tent on the right, it will be on the floor next to the first bed you see.
–Unarmed skill book recipe at Big MT West Tunnel. Open the easy locked door and it will be sitting there on the floor next to a toolbox and two brooms.
Lonesome Road
Lonesome Road has 13 skill books, one for each skill, and they’re all fixed spawns. Since the dlc is pretty linear, I will be listing them according to the path you’re probably going to take. Let’s go!
-One Dean’s Electronics in the Hopeville Missile Silo Bunker, as you enter the first room with the missile in the central part of the silo (refer to local map if needed) look left and you’ll see an upside down desk beside the stairs, look to the right of the desk and it will be there amidst the rubble.
-One Nikola Tesla and You in the Hopeville Missile Base Headquarters, look to the right as you enter and there will be a shelf with some burned books, move them out of the way or pick them up and it will be under them.
-One Guns and Bullets in the Hopeville Armory, it’s a little very hard locked hut next to the base headquarters. You can either pick this lock, hack the hard locked terminal next to it or find a password inside a safe in the headquarters. Once you’re inside, look to the desk on the right, it’s on the floor next to the fallen over chair under the desk.
-One Tumblers Today in the Mens’ Barracks, go inside the bathroom and open the stall on the very left and there will be a wooden box you can move with Z, it’s under it.
-One Grognak the Barbarian in the Women’s barracks, go to the very back of the building and there will be a small yellow table next to a floor lamp, pick up the ruined book on the table and it will be under it.
-One Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor in the Marked men guard outpost, there’s a cellar door in the bottom floor, enter it and go to the right corner. On the counter, next to a nice little pile of organs.
-One Duck and Cover! in the Collapsed Overpass Tunnel, just before you enter the high road look south and there’s a little camp with those protective cushion thing walls, go behind it and there’s a metal box with a teddy bear inside it, pick it up or move it and the book will be under it.
-One Big Book of Science in the Ashton Missile Silo, level 3 of the silo wreckage after you launch the missile, you can jump down from the catwalk at level 2 right to the bottom with all the rubble and you’ll find a hard locked safe. The book is to the left of the safe near the corner, kind of hard to see due to poor lighting.
-One D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine in the Cave Of The Abaddon, right after you exit the cave you’ll find yourself inside a building. In the second room you enter there will be a desk with a fallen over chair next to a double bed. The book is hidden between the desk and fallen chair on the ground, use your pipboy light.
-One Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual in the Sunstone Tower roof. This is another weird one because you have to dislodge it with explosives to be able to pick it up like the dead money one. I’ll be honest, I have never gotten this one. From the interior first floor, go up one flight of stairs and there’s a landing on the right with a bookshelf FACING the wall. If you try really hard and keep throwing ♥♥♥♥ at it maybe it’ll fall but don’t count on it imo
-One Lying, Congressional Style in the Third Street Municipal Building. There’s a room with a dead NCR sniper wearing elite riot gear. In this same floor there’s a toppled over desk on the left and the book is leaning on it. You might NOT find this book because detonating the warhead makes the physics engine freak out and it might fall outta the world
-One Pugilism Illustrated in the Wastewater treatment plant. Enter the interior office and go in the room full of lockers, it is on the floor between an upright one and a fallen one in the left corner of the room.
-One Wasteland Survival Guide in the Waste disposal station, enter the interior (navigate using your local map) and you will see a room full of radioactive barrels where the floor has collapsed. Drop down the hole and there’s two skeletons leaning on the barrels, the book is behind the skeleton on the right.
Conclusion
And that wraps up our share on Fallout: New Vegas: New Vegas Skill Books (by location and most efficient routes). If you have any additional insights or tips to contribute, don’t hesitate to drop a comment below. For a more in-depth read, you can refer to the original article here by ben dover, who deserves all the credit. Happy gaming!