The security manuals and resources mentioned elsewhere on this site are great theory and procedural references. But if you want to get deeper, into what I call the "inner game of security," you need to start reading outside the box. Here is a collection of books (in no particular order) I've found to be extremely insightful and useful. There's a good chance you haven't heard of many of these titles since they aren't mentioned in typical humanitarian security courses. A number of the books don't even have anything to directly do with security. Click on a link to visit Amazon.com where you can learn more about the book.

Karl Weick and Kathleen Sutcliffe's Managing the Unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty is at the top of my list. The world is too unpredictable to be prepared for everything and resilience is a key component of an effective safety and security program. Lots of case studies from high-reliability organizations and sage advice makes this book a winner. Highly recommended.

Paul Ekman is a well known and regarded psychology professor (now retired), who specializes in using facial recognition techniques to identify emotion. Two of his very useful books include, Telling Lies (a fascinating account of the practice of deceit and clues for recognizing untruths) and Emotions Revealed (how facial expressions universally convey emotions - lots of photos with explanations, this is a must if you want to be a good people reader).

Gavin De Becker is a private investigator (fairly well known as PI to the stars and famous). His book, The Gift of Fear, should be required reading for anyone going into the field. His thesis is intuition should be listened to because it is a series of unconsciously recognized clues that identify threats. There's lots of good information in this book for the security practitioner and general staff member. Highly recommended.

Strong on Defense - Author Sanford Strong is a former cop who put together this excellent reference on surviving criminal encounters and the importance of mindset. A great companion to the Gift of Fear. (Keep in mind both Strong and De Becker are writing from a US-centric context, so you may need to factor in any cultural differences in your operating environment.)

Influence - Robert Cialdini is a psychology professor who specializes in research devoted to persuasion (how people get you to do things). Influence has sold millions of copies and exposes many of the secrets of advertisers, marketeers and professional sales people. It's a fascinating read about what I like to call "Jedi mind tricks." This book shows you how to avoid being taken advantage of. On the flip side, these influence tactics can be applied organizationally for training and to increase compliance with security policies.

Nicholas Nassim Taleb is a maverick academician and hedge fund trader who has some interesting theories on human behavior, randomness and whether people are able to make accurate predictions. His first book, Fooled by Randomness, has an monetary orientation, but raises a large number of general points to ponder. The recently published follow-up, The Black Swan (his term for an "out of the blue" event that has significant impact), expands on some of the ideas in the first book. Taleb is guaranteed to get you thinking about aspects of security in a very different light.

Sources of Power - Gary Klein is an internationally recognized expert in decision-making. This book examines how people make decisions under stress and pressure. Klein uses lots of case studies and examples to illustrate his points. Some great suggestions for improving decision making effectiveness on both personal and organizational levels. (Klein also wrote The Power of Intuition which is in the same vein as Malcolm Gladwell's popular Blink. There's definitely merit in "trusting your gut" as these books state.) Klein recently published a follow-up to Source of Power called Streetlights and Shadows: Searching for the Keys to Adaptive Decision Making. It's also quite good.

Made to Stick - If you like reading Malcolm Gladwell, check out this recently published book by brothers Chip and Dan Heath. The title explores why some ideas work (or stick) and others don't. While this is targeted more toward the business audience, read between the lines to get some good pointers for effective training methods and implementing security policies and procedures.

Daniel Goleman's classic book Emotional Intelligence is a must read for the security practitioner. The art of humanitarian security relies so much on relationships and personal interaction, any skills you can acquire in these areas are critical. Read this book, look at yourself, then apply what you've learned when you deal with others.

From being an EMT for a number of years I'm a big believer that NGO security practitioners should have first aid skills that go beyond the basics. Two excellent, easy to read titles that cover relevant topics are: The Wilderness First Responder - written by Buck Tilton, this is the best textbook on the market for dealing with wilderness emergencies (which crosses over to first aid in austere and urban areas) and Where There Is No Doctor, by David Werner - this is a classic that has been around for 30 years. More oriented towards health care workers and clinics, it is a remarkable collection of easy to understand medical information.

Amanda's Ripley's The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why is an excellent and well researched account of disaster and crisis psychology. This is essential reading for anyone providing safety and security training for humanitarian workers. Knowing how people will likely behave in an emergency is extremely advantageous in preparing them for an incident and providing effective leadership. An entire class could be wrapped around the concepts and accounts found in this book. Get it!

home last updated September 7, 2011