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This is the spot to discover all of the literature featured in the Person of Interest. The books could be seen in the show or mentioned by the characters.

Finch with books

Finch with books


Season 1[]

  • It Can't Happen Here (Sinclair Lewis). Finch is seen reading a first edition of this book when he meets with Reese for a breakfast meeting. (“Judgment”) Finch later brings a newer edition of the same book for Reese to read while recovering from his gunshot wound. (“Super”)
  • The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas). The book is laying on a table in the apartment where Reese and Elias are hiding from the Russian mob. (“Witness”) (Possible referencing the fact that Jim Caviezel played The Count in a movie of the same name.)
  • The Ghost in The Machine (Arthur Koestler). Reese picks up this volume from a shelf at the Library and a picture of a younger Finch and Nathan Ingram falls out. (“Number Crunch”) (“God Mode”)
  • Democracy in America (Alexis de Tocqueville). One of several books that Finch brings for Reese to read while resting from his gunshot wound. (“Super”)
  • Top Secret America (Dana Priest and William M. Arkin). (“Super”)
  • 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created (Charles C. Mann). (“Super”)
  • World's Best Beers (Ben McFarland). (“Super”)
  • Principles of Criminal Law (Harvey Wallace and Cliff Roberson) (“Legacy”)
  • Hannibal (Thomas Harris). The book is standing on Pete Matheson's desk when Carter and other police officers enter his house and find him dead. (“Root Cause”)
  • Only the Paranoid Survive (Andrew S. Grove). A book about measuring and focusing on new paths after a massive change or nightmare moment. Finch recites the book title when he and Reese return to the Library after they had to abandon it due to Root's hacking attack. Reese later mentions the same phrase when Fusco informs him about the information he gathered about Finch's past. (“Wolf and Cub”)
  • The Art of War (Sun Tzu). The book is discussed by Reese and Darren McGrady several times. (“Wolf and Cub”)
  • A Random Walk down Wall Street (Burton Malkiel). Finch wants Reese to read the book in order to get prepared for his cover job at an investment firm. (“Risk”)
  • The Trial (Franz Kafka). The book discussed by Finch and the impostor Jordan Hester when they meet at the bookstore. Finch is holding the book in the final scene of the episode when Finch says "Good Night Nathan" (“Identity Crisis”)
  • Our Mutual Friend (Charles Dickens). This book is referenced by a drugged Finch during a phone conversation with Reese. Finch says, "The plot turns on a case of concealed identity. How ironic." (“Identity Crisis”)
  • The Charge of The Light Brigade (Alfred, Lord Tennyson). Tennyson's epic poem is (mis)-quoted by Reese ("ours is not to reason why"). (“Matsya Nyaya”)
  • Stress Fractures in Titanium. Reese is reading the book when Harold tells him that there was no new number. (“Many Happy Returns”) A reference to the movie "Heat".
  • Crime and Punishment (Fydor Dostoyevsky). Reese is perusing this volume as Finch discusses Henry Peck, their newest number. (“No Good Deed”)

Season 2[]

  • The Family Affairs of Sir Thomas Phillipps (A. N. L. Munby). One of the three books that lead Reese to Leon Tao's social security number. (“The Contingency”)
  • Uncertainty and Vagueness in Knowledge Based Systems: Numerical Methods (Rudolf Kruse). (“The Contingency”)
  • King of the Confessors (Thomas Hoving). A book placed near "Uncertainty RK". (“The Contingency”)
  • Reflections on Dr. Swift's Letter to Harley (1712) (John Oldmixon and Arthur Mainwaring). (“The Contingency”)
  • Ayacucho Quechua Grammar and Dictionary (Gary John Parker). One of the three books that bring Reese closer to Root. (“The Contingency”)
  • Deterministic chaos : An Introduction (Heinz Georg Schuster). (“The Contingency”)
  • Camera Obscura, de l'idéologie (Sarah Kofman). (“The Contingency”)
  • Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes). The book Hanna Frey checked out at the library on the night she was abducted. Her friend Sam would send a copy of it to the librarian every year on the anniversary of Hanna's disappearance. (“Bad Code”)
  • Unnamed book (Asimov), rare first edition eaten by Bear. (“Bad Code”)
  • Penal Law of the State of New York  (New York State Statute) The book Finch suggests Leon to read in case he gets bored. (“Critical”)
  • The Apocryphal Literature: A Brief Introduction (Charles Cutler Torrey). One of the books that form Special Agent Donnelly's Social Security number. (“Prisoner's Dilemma”)
  • Design Methods: Seeds of Human Futures (J. Christopher Jones).
  • Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen). The book where Finch hides an engagement ring for Grace. (“Zero Day”)

Season 3[]

  • Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov). The book discussed by Nicole Spencer and her book club. (“Reasonable Doubt”)
  • Farewell, My Lovely (Raymond Chandler). The book Timothy Sloan found in a hoarder's apartment. (“Mors Praematura”)
  • The American Revolution: A Concise History (Robert J. Allison). The book Jason hid in the heating vent which would lead Finch to decipher the code from the storage room wall. (“Mors Praematura”)
  • Freedom (William Safire). One of the books on the table in Root's room in the Library. (“The Devil's Share”)
  • The Year of the Barricades (David Caute). Also one of the books in Root's room.
  • The Secret War (Francis Russell).
  • Peterson Field Guides to Eastern Birds (Roger Tory Peterson). Finch's bird book. (“Lethe”) (“Aletheia”)
  • A Farewell to Arms (Ernest Hemingway). Arthur Claypool uses the quote from the book in the note stored with the Samaritan drives. (“Aletheia”)
  • Mathematical Theory of Communication (Claude E. Shannon and Warren Weaver). Daniel Casey finds rare original edition in the Library. (“RAM”)
  • Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (16th edition) (John Bartlett and Justin Kaplan). The book on the table in Finch's Beef Consultants safe house. (“Death Benefit”)

Season 4[]

  • New York Underground: An Illustrated History of Subterranean Engineering (Ruth Weaver). The Machine places typographical errors in Finch's dissertation that lead him to this book and which lead him to find IRT's subway repair line as there "New base of operations" (“Panopticon”)
  • A History of Costume Design in Subversive Soviet Theater (Galina Demidov). Claire Mahoney used this book to hide her backup disk. (“Nautilus”)
  • The Invisible Man (H.G. Wells). Harold presents Elias a first edition of this book. (“Brotherhood”)

Season 5[]

  • Twelve O'Clock High (Beirne Lay, Jr & Sy Bartlett). Elias handover the book to Harold and tells him that to win the war they need to sacrifice. (“Reassortment”)
  • Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen). The ICE-9.exe virus password is the name of the sisters who are the main characters. Shaw was holding the book before Reese told her that Greer's number had come up. (“.exe”)

Trivia[]

  • Finch uses the name Walt Trowbridge - one of the characters in It Can't Happen Here - as an alias. (“Judgment”)
  • Jim Caviezel starred in a 2002 production of Count of Monte Cristo. (“Witness”)
  • Our Mutual Friend was Charles Dicken's last completed novel (1864/65). It is the story of a man who fakes his own death, meaning to give his fortune away and quietly observe the selfish woman he is meant to marry. Serving as a humble clerk, he slowly falls in love with the woman, who in turn learns love matters more than money.
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