Entry Ten
It is morning, and I have decided to write my findings as I sort through them, taking notes on them as I discover what help they may be. It will allow me to look back upon the results from a fresh perspective, as well as be able to study my feelings on them as I feel it. A fresh point of view would help in the future I think.
I would first like to state my observations of the books I have in my possession as of right now. There are only four of them at the moment. They are quite hefty though, so they should contain a good deal of knowledge, given their titles. The largest one is probably one of the largest tomes I've ever seen. The other three are still quite large, and hopefully, they will all contain at least some decent answers to the questions that have yet to be answered since I arrived.
The four books are titled, (in order of largest to smallest,)
The Adventurer's Complete Encyclopedia to Crafting and Mining. (The title reflects it's size well.)
HAYO's guide to Crafting a new Industrial Revolution. (Once again, Large name, Large book)
A Beginners Guide to Building Machines.
A Beginners Guide to Alchemy and Equivalent Exchange -3rd version-
Let's start with outward appearances, or "Judging the books by their covers." (I don't know why I found that so amusing,)
The first book, The Adventure's Encyclopedia to Crafting and Mining, is truly massive. The book is almost four hooves thick, and looks very worn and used. The cover is chock full of notches, blemishes, scratches, smudges, stains, and the like. This must be a very old book, and judging by the binding and the style it seems to have been made and decorated, it definitely exceeds me in years, as well as most ponies. The cover is a simple earthen brown, and has an elegant green pattern embroidered into it. The pattern consists of several different various plant life that I've found nearby.
The pages look worn from constant use, some of them with tears, and chunks missing from them. The Encyclopedia seems to have seen better days, but still has many many more to go. The book it'self is about an entire leg's length long. I have no doubt that this tome will contain several answers to my many almost endless questions. I look forward to studying the contents held within.
The second book, HAYO's Guide to Crafting a new Industrial Revolution, looks to be in the exact opposite condition of the book I have just finished observing. Not only is it free of almost any kinds of signs of actual use, it also appears to have been made from some of the most perfect and precise materials I've ever seen. The entire book is made of some form of parchment that feels and looks all too perfect. Unlike standard parchment, which is rough due to current methods of creating paper and publishing books that are far from efficient, and lack any form of uniformity, This book seems to have been created straight from the heavens above. I'm sure it would be a librarians dream come true.
The cover, isn't made of leather, or wood as some books tend to be. No. The cover to this guide is made of pure metal. Now, I'm no smith or metallurist, so I can't identify what this material actually is, but I can at least describe it. It has a certain reflective quality, and doesn't look like it contains any kind of flaws or blotches of whatever metals were used to make the material, so that leads me to believe either this alloy is made from very advanced material, or it was hammered, rolled, and flattened in a way that leaves absolutely no major marks or dents. Quite a feat in and of it'self.
The third book, A Beginners Guide to Building Machines, is a much more normal looking book. It certainly is a hefty book, but doesn't seem to have quite the amount of use the first book has, nor be made from any of the special materials of the second. Nothing much looks too out of place or unusual. Although, it does have an interesting pattern etched into the cover. Orange colored lines in a kind of boxed-in zig-zag pattern adorn the edges and various other sections of the cover.
What made this book catch my attention, though it was fairly common looking, was what was written on the back. The book claims to be able to teach me how to make machines that could make my everyday life simpler. It's methods are to use various machines described in the book. We'll see how useful these machines could be in the future. There isn't much more to the outside of the book. I'm eager to search the contents inside it. We'll get to that later though.
The last book, A Beginners Guide to Alchemy, is perhaps the most mysterious. Not puzzling, or intriguing. Mysterious. There is a distinct feeling of magic emanating from it. That's completely explainable, though, since Alchemy in and of it'self is a form of magical study. In fact, I expect this spellbook to be the least informative, or rather, will teach me more of things I already had a vague idea of. I brought it because I have expressed some interest in Alchemy in the past, and, with recent events, I felt now would be as good a time as any to learn.
The cover alone doesn't look too out of the ordinary as far as spellbooks go. It has a purple covering, a gold embroidered logo on the front, and the title in a silver thread. There are also various patterns and decorative designs on the cover as well. The outward appearance isn't too surprising for a spell tome, so that one isn't as intriguing. I expect this is the one I'll be using the least of.
That concludes my observations of outward appearances, and in my next entry, I'll be covering the contents.