“Whether he would include books in this castigation is not set forth, but perhaps not, for books have so many strange powers that no one so wise as mine author would dispute their magic, even as amulets, for as such they have been and still are used.”
— Holbrook Jackson, The Anatomy of Bibliomania p.140

My current book talisman — the one I carry around but isn’t one I read cover to cover, but is there for consultation and guide — is Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren. It’s always more or less in the bag next to the camera.