He doesn't need to be able to read a book to consume it

“So everything else, someone could have had?” She asked. “They could have learned?”

“I…think so,” I mused, nodding slowly. “I mean, it’d probably be pretty hard in a lot of cases, because most people have a much harder time doing…everything then I do. But if you were born with an affinity for the right things, if you trained hard enough, if you were smart or wise or strong enough…some of them, I’m not sure people have a natural way of getting after birth, but…yeah. I think a lot of stuff is modified by my Semblance so it might not work exactly the same way for someone without HP or MP or quests or whatever, but…I think so.”

She took a breath and then exhaled.

“So this book,” She continued. “This Naraka. Someone else could have known it in the past?”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding quietly. “Yeah, I suppose so. What does that…what do you think it means? Do you think it has anything to do with the Grimm?”

“I don’t know,” She answered, eyes on Naraka.

“What’s the book say, then?” I asked again.

“I don’t know,” She repeated. “I can’t read it. Nobody can read it. That’s why we call it Babel.”

She looked up at me slowly.

“But of course, that doesn’t matter to you, does it?” She said.

I held out my hand and took back the book. A moment later it dissolved into light.

The knowledge filled me as the matter it was inscribed upon faded, an amazing sensation that I was never sure how to truly describe. It was like the pieces of a puzzle I hadn’t even known about had slid suddenly into place, filling a void I’d never realized was there. It wasn’t the same as memorizing something a book nor did it manifest that way in my head, but in a moment of illumination I understood, completely and comprehensively, everything that had once been contained within the text. I knew what it did. I knew how it worked. I knew how to make it work.