While the specific sections about how books relate to characters is very good, perhaps that could be slightly trimmed and then put into a more detailed #History section? Especially as there are many books in the DWU that can't be organised by their relation to recurring characters given the scope of the DWU is so much broader.
These problems might be so great that the article's factual accuracy has been compromised. Talk about it here or check the revision history or Manual of Style for more information.
Books, according to the Tenth Doctor, were the "best weapons in the world." (TV: Tooth and Claw) As "books make people think", Caroline posited that many revolutions began with readers at the forefront. (AUDIO: The Flood) Books could be handwritten or printed on sheets of paper made from wood (or a similar material) that were bound together. (TV: Human Nature, Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead)
Paul Magrs believed that books needed to be shared and pass through various people's hands. He believed that people needed to be with books and spend time with books, and that rummaging was "restorative and restful". To this end, he created the Levenshulme Little Free Library. (PROSE: Why We Started Our Little Free Library... [+]Paul Magrs, Life on Magrs fiction (2021). Pages 4, 1, 3.)
Books had bleed margins, (PROSE: Untitled) and had pages. (PROSE: Iris Wildthyme and the Unholy Ghost)
Some books were in electronic devices, like The I-Spyder Book of Earth Creatures. (PROSE: The Last Dodo) Thinking books were books that could be read by thought processes. (PROSE: Phoenix) Some books from Gallifrey, including Encyclopedia Gallifreya, were in liquid form, and were kept in bottles. (TV: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS)
Books could cover any topic and be intended for entertainment, record keeping, teaching, or other purposes. The Doctor felt that books were always useful, even though one would not at first know how. (AUDIO: Pride of the Lampian) Diaries were also recorded in books, such as River Song's. (TV: Silence in the Library) Some books were arranged in chapters, which could have titles listed near the front of the book. Some books had afterwords, text written after the main story was concluded. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan) Another common feature in books was date of publication information. Books could be reprinted, and editions of some books were printed as late as the year 5000000000. (TV: The Unicorn and the Wasp)
By the 51st century, books were somewhat replaced by holovids, direct-to-brain downloads, and fiction mist. According to the Tenth Doctor, however, people still longed for the smell of books. (TV: Silence in the Library)
Indeed, even as technology progressed, paper books proved more affordable to produce and to distribute, and therefore more accessible. This format was also a better long-term archiving strategy than computer storage, standing the test of time. Into the Analog Wars, no other format truly replaced books. (AUDIO: The Black Hole)
Books were commonly, but not exclusively, stored in a library. (TV: Silence in the Library) The process of producing a book was called writing, and the person who produced the book could be called the author. (TV: The Unquiet Dead, The Angels Take Manhattan)
When the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble arrived at the Library and were surprised to find that, despite no one being visible, 1,000,000,000,000 life forms were detected there, Donna suggested that the books might be alive. (TV: Silence in the Library) They weren't books, but in fact the Vashta Nerada, who were hatched in the Library's books, using them in place of a forest. (TV: Forest of the Dead)
There existed books about Rose Tyler's and the Ninth Doctor's travels to the 1920s, the Justicia Penal System, and the war against the Mantodeans. (PROSE: Meet Rose)
According to the Curator, humans were the only species in the universe who thought that reading books via "one of those computer tablet things" was a good idea. (PROSE: The Day of the Doctor)
The Nun disguised her TARDIS as a book. Though the Tenth Doctor praised the portability of this, the Nun noted it made entering and exiting the craft rather difficult. (AUDIO: The Wrong Woman)
In the 2010s, Daryl Christofi was working on a book about his experiences as a diver. (PROSE: Daryl Christofi [+]Daryl the Diver (Punchdrunk and BBC, 2011).)
An annual was a type of book. (PROSE: A Letter from the Doctor [+]Paul Lang, Doctor Who The Official Annual 2024 (Penguin Group, 2023). Page 6.)
Books as commodity[]
Books, and often the information within them, could be valuable. First-edition copies, in particular, were worth a great amount, (AUDIO: The Crooked Man) and some books were sought after for their historical or religious significance, and indeed their rarity. (AUDIO: The Book of Kells)
For this reason, it was not uncommon to have valuable books stolen, (AUDIO: The Book of Kells, The Crooked Man, COMIC: Voyager) and even second-hand bookshops were equipped to keep such volumes under lock and key. (AUDIO: The Crooked Man)
Cultural relics[]
The Book of Lies was a rumoured book that detailed the teachings of the Faction Paradox. (PROSE: Unnatural History)
Some books are not just for reading[]
The Book of the Still was a book used as a rescue device for stranded time-travellers. When the Unnoticed discovered that their existence and location were recorded in this book, they were willing to commit murder to find it. (PROSE: The Book of the Still)
The Crooked Man, from the Land of Fiction, killed Celia Turner by breaking the spine of the book she came from, Hearts and Minds 2: Turner's Revenge. (AUDIO: The Crooked Man)
Books from Gallifrey and Earth[]
The Doctor and books[]
- See also: TARDIS Library
The Doctor appeared to be fond of books. They were also a fan of certain Earth authors in several incarnations. (TV: Doctor Who, The Unquiet Dead, Tooth and Claw, AUDIO: The Eternal Battle, The Time of the Daleks, et al.) The Time Lord was capable of reading a book in seconds, simply by flipping through its pages. (TV: City of Death, The Time of Angels, Rose, AUDIO: Invaders from Mars)
The War Doctor listed books among the things he wanted to teach his companion Cinder about. (PROSE: Engines of War) The Tenth Doctor, while hiding in a library from a lupine wavelength haemovariform, called books the "best weapons in the world." (TV: Tooth and Claw) The Eleventh Doctor read the book Melody Malone: Private Detective in Old New York Town aloud to Amy Pond in Central Park. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)
Even though he seemed to enjoy reading, the Eleventh Doctor told Amy that he always tore out the last page, so the story didn't have to end. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan) Unlike his successor, however, the Tenth Doctor loved a book with a death at the end, particularly biographies. (TV: Silence in the Library) The Tenth Doctor in fact specifically protested about his copy of Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd missing the last page. (TV: The Unicorn and the Wasp)
There was a library in the Doctor's TARDIS. (PROSE: War of the Daleks, All-Consuming Fire, The Dimension Riders, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS) Its books included Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Jane's Spaceships, Every Gallifreyan Child's Pop-Up Book of Nasty Creatures From Other Dimensions, The Time Machine by H. G. Wells, Robinson Crusoe, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (signed first printing, with last page missing), War and Peace, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and The I-Spy Book of British Birds. (PROSE: The Wheel of Ice, War of the Daleks, All-Consuming Fire, Heart of TARDIS, The Last Dodo, TV: Doctor Who, AUDIO: Storm Warning)
It also included books from the Doctor's home world, specifically The History of the Time War and the Encyclopedia Gallifreya. (TV: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS) The Encyclopaedia Gallifreya was sentient, and observed the Doctor throughout their travels, longing to be consulted. (PROSE: Citation Needed) The Doctor also possessed a printed edition of Agatha Christie's Death in the Clouds published in the aforementioned year 5000000000. (TV: The Unicorn and the Wasp) The Fourth Doctor kept books in his pockets, including Origins of the Universe by Oolon Colluphid. (TV: Destiny of the Daleks)
The Doctor also occasionally sought out or was gifted books as part of their adventures, including Black Orchid by George Cranleigh (TV: Black Orchid) and A Journal of Impossible Things by Verity Newman. (TV: The End of Time)
The Ninth Doctor appeared in a book of photographs of Victoria, which WillH noted that there weren't many people in the 19th century who wore leather jackets. (PROSE: Have You Seen This Man?)
The Master and books[]
The Master's TARDIS had a well-stocked library. The Master's interests, however, tended toward the evil and arcane. Among the more diabolical works he owned were the Necronomicon, shelved between the Liber Inducens in Evangelium Aeternum and The Black Scrolls of Rassilon. It also included the Book of Vile and its Black Appendix, The Ambuehl Lores and the Insidium of Astrolabus. (PROSE: The Quantum Archangel)
The Master read The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells during the Dalek plot Operation Divide and Conquer in the 26th century. (TV: Frontier in Space)
Doctor John Smith, a human persona of the Master, enjoyed books. He owned some including The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Divided Self by Julia Steer, and Man, Two Hearts in One Mind by Professor Bernice Summerfield. (AUDIO: Master)
Books to teach other subjects[]
The Fourth Doctor learned Tibetan from Teach Yourself Tibetan, a book he read on Chloris to better understand Everest in Easy Stages, which was written in that language. (TV: The Creature from the Pit)
Books authored by friends of the Doctor[]
Bernice Summerfield was the author of Down Among the Dead Men (PROSE: Oh No It Isn't!, Dry Pilgrimage, Walking to Babylon) and Down Among the Dead Men Again, (PROSE: Seeing I, AUDIO: Making Myths) while her husband wrote pieces of xenopornography such as Nights of the Perfumed Tentacle. (PROSE: Beige Planet Mars, Sex Secrets of the Robot Replicants)
Summer Falls was a book written by Amelia Williams, former companion of the Eleventh Doctor. Both Artie Maitland and Clara Oswald read it, Clara claiming that Chapter 11 was the best. (TV: The Bells of Saint John) Night Thief of Ill-Harbour was another famous book written by Amelia Williams. (PROSE: Summer Falls and Other Stories)
Amelia's daughter, Melody Malone, wrote Melody Malone: Private Detective in Old New York Town. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)
Sarah Jane Smith wrote a book called UNIT Fighting for Humankind. (TV: Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?)
