Book Books , according to the Tenth Doctor , were the " best weapons in the world . " ( TV : " Tooth and Claw " ) They 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 " ) Some books were in electronic devices , like " The I - Spyder Book of Earth Creatures " . ( PROSE : " The Last Dodo " ) Thinking book s were books that could be read by thought processes . ( PROSE : " Phoenix " ) Books from Gallifrey , or at least " 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 . 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 holovid s , direct - to - brain download s , and fiction mist . According to the Tenth Doctor , however , people still longed for the smell of books . ( TV : " Silence in the Library " ) 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 " ) Books as commodity . Books , or rather the information within them , could be valuable . 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 - travel lers . 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 " ) Books from Gallifrey and Earth . The Doctor and books . The Doctor appeared to be fond of books . He was a fan of certain Earth authors in several incarnations . ( TV : " Doctor Who " , " The Unquiet Dead " , " Tooth and Claw " 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 enlisted books among the things he wanted to teach about his companion Cinder . ( 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 " " 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 " , TV : " Doctor Who " , PROSE : " Heart of TARDIS " , AUDIO : " Storm Warning " ) It also included books from his home world , specifically " The History of the Time War " and the " Encyclopedia Gallifreya " . ( TV : " Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS " ) The Doctor also possessed a printed edition of Christie ' s " Death in the Clouds " published in the aforementioned year 5000000000 . ( TV : " The Unicorn and the Wasp " ) 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 : " Buried Treasures " ) 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 " " . ( TV : " The Angels Take Manhattan " ) Sarah Jane Smith wrote a book called " UNIT Fighting for Humankind " . ( TV : " Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane ? " )