Best way to spread germs
Back in elementary school, our teacher would tell us to moisten our fingers with spit and turn the pages of books from their corners. This supposedly stops the pages from ripping, though you could easily turn pages without damaging the book by flipping through it with a thumb.
Now more than ever, this licking-your-finger-before-turning-a-page thing has to go away. Nobody wants to touch a page that has your dried spit on it, no matter how enticing the book is. If your fingers really are so dry that they can’t turn pages, just use moisturizer or download and read an e-book instead.