650. Reading Material on Shabbos

Please consult with your own rabbi regarding the practical application of reading various kinds of material on Shabbos. 90:10 One may not even look over such documents as promissory notes, accounts, and correspondence, even without reading them. Even though one is only thinking about these things, it is prohibited. This is because the idea that thinking about something is permitted only applies when it's not obvious that one is occupying his mind with matters that are forbidden on Shabbos. In this case, it's obvious to everyone that he’s thinking about some forbidden thing, so it violates the prohibition of dealing with our own affairs on Shabbos. If a person has received a letter and he doesn't know what it says, he may read it on Shabbos because it may contain something of actual need. He may not, however, read it aloud. If he knows that the letter is only about business matters, he may not even look at it, and he may not handle it because it's muktzeh.

90:11 If a wall has portraits on it, and below the portraits are captions with the names of those pictured, one may not read or look at these captions on Shabbos. Similarly, one may not read or look at secular history books on Shabbos, nor secular books of stories, etc. Even during the week frivolous things are prohibited as a form of idle chatter, and it makes no difference if they’re written in Hebrew. Works of erotica present an additional problem, namely that they stimulate one sexually. Certain histories, like that of Josephus, include moral lessons and teach awe of G-d; these may be read on Shabbos, even in languages other than Hebrew, although one should not spend too much time on them.