Short on time? Here's a rapid-fire cheat sheet to make reading skill books faster in Project Zomboid:

MinutesPerPage=0.01  # super-fast reading (1 page per 0.01 in-game minutes)

With those basics out of the way, let's dive deeper into why reading is so slow by default and detailed strategies – for both vanilla gameplay and with mods – to speed it up in Build 41 and Build 42.

In Project Zomboid, skill books are lifesavers for leveling – but reading them takes serious in-game time. By design, reading a book simulates studying, meaning your character can spend hours (in-game) nose-deep in Carpentry Vol.1 while the zombie apocalypse rages on. Let's break down the basics of how book reading works, and what changed (or didn't) between Build 41 and Build 42:

So, reading in PZ is deliberately time-consuming for realism and balance. But nobody (in-game or IRL) wants to die of boredom. Now that we've covered why it's slow by default and what's changed in the new version, let's look at how to speed things up in practice.

Playing solo or local co-op in Project Zomboid grants one huge luxury: time control. You can accelerate time at will, which is a game-changer for mitigating long activities like reading. This means single-player (SP) folks have some easy hacks to blast through books. Let's go through the best strategies:

In single-player, you can toggle fast-forward (the > and >> buttons by the clock, or press F3/F4). At 3x speed, that "5 real minutes" reading session shrinks to about ~1.7 minutes of real time. You can even go ultra-speed (faster forwarding when your character is sitting/idle) if enabled. This effectively nullifies the Slow Reader penalty in SP – who cares if it takes 30% longer in-game when you can just zoom through time? This is why so many SP veterans take Slow Reader trait without worry. Just remember: the game isn't truly paused. Zombies can still stroll up on fast-forward and ruin your day. Always secure your area first:

• Clear the vicinity: Before reading, do a perimeter check of your safehouse or wherever you are. Kill nearby zombies so none will stumble on you.
• Lock doors and hang sheets: Treat reading like sleeping – secure doors, close curtains. You might even go upstairs in a two-story building (zombies have a harder time pathing to you, and you'll hear them breaking in).
• Consider a lookout: If you're extremely paranoid (say, you play with sprinters or something crazy), read from a vantage point where you can see approaching threats. Some players read on second-story roofs or in a car with the engine off (providing some safety if zombies come).
• Don't fast-forward if injured or sick: This is a general tip – time acceleration can make you pass out or die from wounds or illness before you realize it. If your character is in any peril (bleeding, fever, etc.), address that first.

By following those, you can confidently 3x speed your reading. The difference is night and day – a book that might be ~15 minutes real-time at normal speed becomes 5 minutes or less of watching bars fill. Just don't forget to un-speed if something happens. One trick: keep the inventory or health panel open; time will auto slow if a zombie enters your view or an event occurs, giving you a chance to react even if you were fast-forwarding.

While Build 41 didn't let you directly choose a "Fast Reader" trait, Build 42 does. And regardless of build, you could avoid handicapping yourself:

• Skip "Slow Reader" in SP – As we discussed, slow reader's downside is easily bypassed in single-player, but it can make those first-day book readings (for Life and Living TV, see below) a bit tighter on time. If you're new, you might prefer not to take it so you're not rushed. If you're experienced, you might still take it for extra points since you know how to manage it. But if your goal is a smooth, fast book-reading experience, it's an obvious one to leave out.
• Try "Fast Reader" (if available) – In Build 42+ (or if you use a mod that unlocks it in B41), Fast Reader is a cheap positive trait. It costs a few points and cuts reading time ~30%. That stacks with any time acceleration too. It basically means less in-game time per page, which also reduces how quickly your character gets bored or hungry during a single reading session. It's a niche trait – it won't help you survive combat or anything – but if you're doing a "librarian" build or just hate how long books take, it's worth considering now that it's officially in.
• Occupations and Skills – Some occupations start with higher skill levels which can skip the need to read lower-tier books. For example, a Mechanic starts at level 3 Mechanics, meaning you don't ever need to read Mechanics Vol.1 (levels 1-2) in that run. That's one less book to worry about. If you know you hate reading certain skill books, starting with a few points in that skill (via occupation or the Amateur Mechanic trait, etc.) might eliminate the need for the beginner and maybe intermediate book, saving you time. This is more of a meta-strategy, but it can indirectly "speed up" your progression.
• Illiterate – Only for masochists: There's a trait that completely prevents reading skill books (Illiterate). It gives a lot of points, but you can't read any books or magazines (you basically can't benefit from written recipes or skill boosts). This guide is about reading faster, but if you accidentally took Illiterate… well, your problem is solved because you won't be reading at all! 😂 In seriousness, Illiterate is a fun challenge but obviously, you wouldn't take it if you plan on using skill books.

One pro-tip for Build 41 story mode (and still relevant in Build 42, though with changes): utilize the Life and Living TV schedule in the first week. This isn't a TV guide, so in brief: Life and Living channel broadcasts skill lectures at certain times (Cooking show, Carpentry show, etc.) for the first 9 days of the apocalypse. Watching them gives free XP in those skills.

The catch: If you're already under the effect of a skill book multiplier while watching the show, you get multiplied XP from the TV show. Huge payoff!

• Plan to read before the show: Say it's Day 1, and the Carpentry TV show is at 12:00. If you woke up at 9:00, you have 3 hours. Grab "Carpentry for Beginners" and read as much as you can before noon. Ideally, finish it (to get the full 3× XP boost for levels 1-2). With a normal reader, it takes ~7 hours in-game to finish, so you won't fully finish in time unless you woke up earlier. With Fast Reader trait or some luck, you might. But even reading part of it helps – at least 30% read gives you a 1.3× multiplier, 60% gives 1.6×, etc., up to 3.0× when fully read. So scramble to read as much as possible, then watch the show. You'll gain a ton more XP from that show than you would have without the book boost.
• Fast-forward trick: Use fast-forward while reading in the morning to maximize pages read before the show. Just don't miss the show time! Set an alarm on your watch if you have one, or keep an eye on the clock. It's easy to overshoot noon on fast-forward. Better to stop reading at 11:50, tune in the TV, then resume reading after.
• New B42 TV cap: Note: Build 42 introduced a cap – TV shows won't raise a skill beyond level 3. So if you're already level 3 or higher, watching Life and Living won't give XP for that skill. This means the window of benefiting from TV is narrower. It also means you might not bother reading an advanced book before a show, because you can't go past level 3 anyway from TV XP. For beginners though, the above strategy still holds for levels 1-2. In B42, you just won't get the crazy high level boosts some did in B41 by stacking book multiplier and TV to rocket to level 5 or 6 in one go. The devs curbed that. So after you hit level 3, it's back to books (or actual crafting) to progress – making book reading speed important again post-first-week.

This "read before TV" tactic is a classic early-game booster. It's essentially power-leveling. In SP, you have the luxury to sit in your safehouse at game speed max, gobbling up book knowledge and television XP while the world burns outside.

In single-player, time management is key. If you're going to spend 5 or 6 hours reading in-game, try to accomplish something else simultaneously (besides the TV trick above):

• Rest while Reading: If your character is exerted or tired, reading is a relatively low-energy activity. You can right-click furniture like chairs, sofas, or even the ground and choose "Sit" before reading. While sitting and reading, your fatigue will go down (as if resting) and you won't use stamina. You effectively kill two birds with one stone: recover from exhaustion and get through that book. Some mods even give a speed boost for sitting (e.g. M13's mod can make you read faster when seated, configurable to something like 2× speed). Vanilla doesn't speed up reading if seated, but it's still good practice to sit for efficiency and roleplay.
• Eat/Drink during breaks: Reading takes hours, so your character will get hungry or thirsty partway. Keep some water and food on you. You can eat while reading (just queue it up in the action queue). Pro tip: If you have an energy drink or coffee, consuming caffeine can counteract drowsiness if you're pushing a late-night study session. Just be wary of the crash later.
• Healing downtime: If you got injured (not badly enough to need constant treatment, but say you're scratched or recovering from an illness), reading is a great way to pass "recovery time." In SP you could also just sleep it off, but maybe it's mid-day and you can't sleep – do some reading to let time move while your body heals. It's a productive way to spend time that you'd otherwise be waiting. This is doubly effective because focusing on a book might keep your mind off pain (not a game mechanic, but a bit of RP).
• Avoid Night Reading in the Dark: Currently, Zomboid doesn't penalize you for reading in poor light (though there's been suggestion that it should). Still, practically, if it's pitch dark and you have no flashlight, you might want to wait till morning or get a light source for ambience. It just feels right, and you'll be able to keep an eye out for threats. If you have to read at night, do it in a safe, enclosed space. Consider sleeping and reading during daytime instead, when visibility (for you as a player) is better.

Single-player basically lets you schedule your "reading grind" optimally: do it when it's raining, or when it's too dark to go out, or after you've done a supply run and need to lay low for a day. By fast-forwarding and multitasking, reading doesn't have to feel like a chore in solo play.

Now, it's a whole different story when we talk about multiplayer, where you can't just bend time. So let's switch over to multiplayer strategies, where reading faster becomes a team quality-of-life issue.

In multiplayer (MP), the apocalypse doesn't pause. You can't speed up time unless every player sleeps at once (and even then, some servers disable that). This means if you want to read a book that takes 5 hours in-game, you are sitting there in real-time potentially for 5+ minutes doing nothing. In a co-op session, that's not fun for you or your friends waiting on you to finish so you can go raid the next town. Let's explore how to tackle the reading problem in MP:

The single best fix for multiplayer reading woes is in the server settings. As mentioned in the Quick-Start, server hosts can tweak the Minutes Per Page setting.

MinutesPerPage=0.1

If you're not the admin and reading is painfully slow on your server, talk to your admin. A lot of folks still don't know about MinutesPerPage. Just mentioning "Hey, can we crank up reading speed?" might get a "Oh, sure!" and a quick server reboot to implement. It benefits everyone.

Communication is key in multiplayer. Here are some team strategies to ease the reading burden:

• Assign a "Reader" Role: If playing with a group, sometimes one player (maybe the one who built a character with high Carpentry or whatever) can take on the job of reading the relevant skill book for the team. While they read, others can do productive tasks – cook food, craft, stand guard, go on a short loot run nearby, etc. Once the reader finishes, they can use the skill multiplier and then teach or lead tasks. For example, one player reads Carpentry Vol.2 to boost XP gain, then that player does carpentry for the base (with others assisting physically). In essence, not everyone needs to read every book. You can specialize to an extent. This works well if the reader's character also has traits to speed up reading (maybe they took Fast Reader in B42, or at least not Slow Reader).
• Take Reading Breaks Together: Alternatively, some groups designate a "reading hour" where everyone grabs a book to read at the same time. If the server has a sleep enabled or a "rest" period each night, you could do it then. The upside: if everyone is reading, you could actually vote to sleep/fast-forward on some servers (though if even one can't, then no go). But at least no one is twiddling thumbs waiting for others – you're all in menus reading. It can be a chill downtime where you're also relatively safe together. Post a watch if you're not in a completely secure location – e.g., one person could stay semi-alert to pause reading if zombies approach.
• Use Voice/Chat to Multitask: If one person must read while others are active, keep communication open. The reader can say "I'll be reading for the next few minutes, you guys handle the farming or watch my back." Maybe another player can haul loot back to base in that time. The idea is to always have something else happening so the team isn't just waiting on the reader.
• Share Books (B42 advantage): In B41, if Alice reads the Carpentry book, Bob would need another copy to read it himself later. In B42, the same book can be reused after cooldown. Take advantage of that: one person reads it, then leave it in a "library" crate. Next game week when someone else needs it or the cooldown expires, another can read. Fewer books to lug around; you treat skill books like team assets. This doesn't directly speed reading, but it reduces the total amount of reading the group must do (maybe only one person needs to read each volume to boost their skill and then they can craft for everyone). Also, remember magazines and recipe books can be critical too – those are one-time reads that unlock crafting recipes. Always coordinate who has read which magazine (some servers use the "Has Been Read" mod that marks read books✔️).
• Audiobooks? Fun fact: there was talk on forums about some way to have one player read aloud while others listen (like an audiobook or "classroom" situation). In vanilla, there's no mechanic for sharing XP by reading to others. But if you're in voice chat, a role-play approach could be one player reads the book text (for entertainment) while all have the multiplier because they individually read the book item already… okay, that's purely for RP laughs, not an actual method. As of now, each player has to read the item themselves to get the buff – but who knows, maybe a mod or future update could let knowledge transfer socially.

Most of the mods we listed in the Quick-Start work fine in multiplayer if all players (and the server) have them enabled. A few especially useful for MP:

• Speed Reading Mods: CC's Faster Reading and Cat's Faster Reading mods both function in MP. They essentially alter the reading action to complete faster. For example, CC's mod with 10× speed means a book that took 30 in-game hours now takes 3 hours – it patches the time required directly. It's lightweight and just needs to be on the server. Note: If you have Slow/Fast Reader traits, these mods usually still apply those percentage effects on the new speed, so it all stacks. Cat's mod even mentions specifics like "standing vs sitting" speed differences and walking-while-reading enabled. These can make MP more bearable by drastically cutting reading times without editing server settings (though doing both isn't a problem either).
• "Read While Walking" Mods: Mods like M13's Reading Tweaks allow players to move and read at the same time. In MP, being a sitting duck is dangerous if zombies breach. With that mod, you could technically keep walking with your group (slowly) while reading a book – picture a survivor reading a manual as they walk down an empty road. It will cancel if you start running or get into combat, but it's a nice touch. Also, that mod (and some others) can give a reading speed boost when sitting to encourage finding a chair. You could set it so sitting multiplies speed by, say, 2× or more, making it worth taking a seat at base for a quick study session.
• Skill Share Mods: There are a few mods out there (e.g., "Literature and More") that toy with ideas like gaining the Fast Reader trait through gameplay or sharing XP. One on Steam Workshop notes that reaching a certain skill level grants you Fast Reader trait automatically. While not directly speeding reading from the start, it's another approach – reward players for leveling by letting them read subsequent books faster. Another idea in mods is to allow high-level players to "teach" low-level players (not implemented widely yet, but possibly in the future NPC update or mods).
• UI Mods: If multiple people are reading books, a mod like "Has Been Read" (marks books with a check if your character read them) can help you organize who's read what. It reduces redundant reading. Though Build 42 also added an icon for read books in inventory, it can be hard to see. The mod makes it clearer. Not a speed-up, but a nice quality-of-life.

Remember, all players need the mod and the server must enable it. Always backup your save, and check mod compatibility when the game updates (e.g., when B42 was new, some mods needed updates – like Cat's mod got a patch to respect the new sandbox setting).

When you can't speed up time, you have to manage it:

• Pick the Right Moment: Don't start reading a 5-hour book at 5 PM in-game when your group plans a big loot run at 6 PM. Communicate with your team. Often the best time to read is overnight. If your server allows sleep, arrange a sleep schedule; if not, just agree that when it's dark, everyone hunkers down and reads or crafts until morning (since night raiding is risky). This mimics real survival scenarios – use daylight for scavenging, nights for study and base work.
• Stay Safe While Reading: In MP, zombies are active everywhere all the time. Always have a safe spot to read. Fortify a room in your base as a library: doors, maybe a sheet rope escape, some barricades. If you're on the move, consider reading in a vehicle (sit in the backseat of a car; zombies can't get you unless the car is swarmed and they break windows). I've personally sat my character in a car parked in a clearing and read a book while my friends looted a nearby building – I was essentially the getaway driver and the nerd, reading until they needed me to drive 😄. It worked because the car was a safe bubble.
• 5-Minute Rule: A trick from some MMOs – if you're going to go AFK or do something idle like reading in MP, announce "taking 5" to your team. That sets an expectation that for the next few minutes you won't be responsive in-game. It lets others plan around you and maybe protect you. And it reminds you to actually stop after ~5 minutes and not get too engrossed (if the book isn't done, take a break anyway). This prevents situations where one person is lost in a book interface and the rest get into trouble.
• Loot More Books Early: Since you can't speed up time, one way to effectively speed up progression is to stack multipliers and plan fewer reading sessions. Grab the beginner AND intermediate book for a skill before you start grinding it. Then, when you do read, you might consider reading two books back-to-back if time allows, to jump to a 5× or higher multiplier. It's a long session but then you're done with reading for that skill for a long while. Alternatively, if the server config allows, you could split that among two people (one reads Vol.1, another reads Vol.2) and share the knowledge via doing tasks together (not a game mechanic, but the one who got the XP boost can craft while the other assists).
• Use Other XP Sources: We'll cover alternatives more in the next section, but in MP you might prioritize things like VHS tapes and group training to reduce the number of books you must read. For example, if one of your buddies finds a "Woodcraft Episode 3" VHS (a carpentry training tape), watching that together can replace the need to fully read Carpentry Vol.2 for everyone. Anything that cuts down required reading time for the group is effectively speeding up your skill gain timeline.

Multiplayer is all about cooperation and compromise. Maybe you love reading books and your friend hates it – so you do the reading and tell them "Got the Carpentry multiplier, I'll handle building the base." That way they can do something else productive (or just cover you) instead of both of you reading separately. And with sandbox settings in your favor, hopefully no one has to sit more than a minute or two real-time to get through even the longest tomes.

We've focused on speeding up reading itself – but before concluding, it's worth noting ways to reduce the need for reading or maximize the benefit from the reading you do. After all, the fastest page to read is the one you didn't have to read at all!

As mentioned, VHS tapes introduced in Build 41.54 offer skill XP with zero reading required. These are especially handy for MP or for skills you're too lazy to read about.

• Skill VHS tapes: Some VHS tapes (labeled like "Home VHS: Carpentry" or retail tapes with names like "Woodcraft Episode x") give XP similar to the Life and Living shows. The difference is you can watch them anytime (power permitting). One tape usually corresponds to one episode of the TV show – if you missed the broadcast or want to re-watch, VHS is your friend. Watching a VHS does not consume it, so a whole group can take turns watching the same tape.
• Entertainment tapes: Even tapes that don't give skill XP still reduce boredom. If your character is too bored to read effectively, pop in a comedy VHS, get that boredom down, then continue reading. It's like taking a TV break from studying.
• Build 42 channel lore: B42 added new channels (not just Life and Living) which are more for story/atmosphere. Cool to watch, but they won't boost skills. So prioritize the educational content when thinking of alternatives to reading. And remember that Life and Living skill gain now stops at level 3 cap in B42, so you can't VHS your way to mastery – you'll still crack those books eventually.

Project Zomboid allows "learning by doing." You don't have to read skill books to level up skills; they just make it faster by multiplying XP gain. If reading is too slow or dangerous, you might sometimes choose to skip it, especially for lower skill levels.

• Example – Foraging: Instead of reading Foraging for Beginners, you could just go out and forage with the Queasy moodle of boredom (just kidding!). Foraging is relatively quick to level to 2 or 3 by doing, so maybe you save that beginner book for something grindy like Electricity which is painful to level without a multiplier. Time-wise, sometimes actively playing (killing zombies, building things) is more engaging than sitting and reading for a small multiplier benefit. If you're in MP and can't speed reading, it might actually be faster real-time to just do the actions and gain XP the slow way than to read a book to double XP and then do the actions.
• When books shine: The higher the level, the more XP needed. Skill books give huge multipliers (up to 5× or 8× or even 16×) for higher level ranges. If you're going to level a skill to 10, you'll absolutely want those books – otherwise you're in for an incredible grind of trapping hundreds of rabbits or whatever. So, a good compromise: skip books for easy early levels (or rely on TV for those), but definitely read for mid-to-high levels to save days or weeks of in-game time. This way you minimize reading sessions to when they're most impactful.
• Training together: In multiplayer, two players cutting trees or shooting at a range can level up without books and share the workload of hauling logs or zombies killed. It's slower XP per person, but it's social and potentially safer. Meanwhile, if one of you had a book multiplier active, that person will pull ahead in XP. Sometimes groups decide to just grind a skill "the old-fashioned way" together and not bother waiting for someone to finish a book. It can be more fun and you gain experience (player skill, that is) as well.

This is more of a roleplay/last-resort tip: you can burn books for fuel or inventory space. Obviously, if you want to learn from them, don't burn them! But if you end up with duplicate books or books you've all read in MP, you could toss them in a campfire or use them as tinder. Why mention this in a reading faster guide? Well, sometimes clearing clutter (like 10 copies of "The Herbalist" magazine) from your base can psychologically make you focus on the key books you still need to read. It's housekeeping. Plus, it's cathartic to set ablaze the book that your friend died reading… damn you Electricity Vol.1, Charlie wouldn't get off the roof when the heli came because of you! 🔥

Jokes aside, don't burn the one copy of an important skill book before someone else has read it, communicate with your team. It's usually better to hoard a library, but duplicates can go.

Looking beyond the current builds: the devs have signaled interest in NPCs and perhaps teaching mechanics in Build 43 and beyond. This could introduce entirely new ways to "read faster" – for example, an NPC could teach you a skill or your character could learn by reading while off-screen. If/when that happens, we might get mechanics like skill rust (already in B42 there's skill decay over time) and needing to reread books periodically (hence the cooldown). Build 42 already set the stage with the cooldown system, hinting that knowledge might become something you maintain, not just gain once. So speeding up reading now not only helps you immediately, but might be essential to upkeep skills later. Stay tuned for mods or updates that allow sharing reading tasks (e.g., one book gives multiplier to all team members nearby – not a thing yet, but it's been suggested).

For now, these advanced tips are just to remind you that reading isn't the only way to gain XP – it's one tool. You want to use it efficiently in conjunction with other tools (TV, doing tasks, tapes, traits) to maximize your survival experience versus real time spent.

To wrap it up, Project Zomboid's slow reading is a feature, not a bug – it forces you to consider safety, priorities, and trade-offs in a survival scenario. But with the tips in this guide, you won't be stuck feeling like you're reading War and Peace by candlelight while the undead claw at your door.

We learned that in single-player, you basically have a remote control for time – use it! Fast-forward and smart trait choices (maybe even the newly available Fast Reader trait) can shrink those long reading sessions into a quick montage. Meanwhile, avoid handicapping yourself with Slow Reader unless you're sure you can manage it; 25 extra days of reading in-game for all volumes is no joke if you're not speeding time.

In multiplayer, it's all about teamwork and server tweaks. A tiny edit to the MinutesPerPage setting or a well-chosen mod can save everyone on the server a lot of literal real-life hours. No one signs up for a zombie survival game thinking, "Gee, I can't wait to simulate studying for my electrician's exam for 30 minutes real-time!" – so don't be a hero, talk to your admins and group about accelerating that aspect. You'll still earn those skills, just without the boredom penalty. And until NPCs or other mechanics come along, coordinate with your human teammates: share books, guard each other, and maybe tell some campfire stories while one of you reads.

On a personal note, some of my most memorable PZ moments have a funny way of involving books: that time I was greedily reading a Carpentry book on a rooftop and didn't notice my sheet rope getting pulled by zombies (nearly trapping me up there), or when our MP group in Louisville had a "library day" – all four of us sat in our base reading different books while it rained outside, just chatting on Discord about our survivor's plans. It was the calm before a storm (literal helicopter event next day). Those quiet times can actually be pretty immersive. But the key is: it was a planned downtime, not an endless, tedious grind.

By speeding up the reading process, you free up more time for the fun stuff: building crazy bases, cooking feasts, modding cars, exploring new towns, or mowing down hordes. Knowledge is power, and in Project Zomboid it's xp power. Now you have the knowledge to gain that knowledge faster – pretty meta, right?

So go forth, tweak those settings or install that mod, grab a cup of (virtual) coffee, and blaze through "The Farming Almanac" like it's a comic book. The zombies won't know what hit 'em when you come out of your reading nook with level 7 Carpentry in a fraction of the time it used to take. Stay safe, read fast, and don't forget to occasionally look up from the book to make sure a zombie isn't about to gnaw on your face. Happy surviving!