The Books I Read

The past 3 or 4 years have been the most intense of my life professionally. So much growth and opportunity. So many critical projects. So many critical projects delivered. It's in times those you think you don't have time for yourself. You don't have time for exercise. You don't have time for hobbies. You don't have time to read.

It's not true.

I remember my freshman year in college being overwhelmed during the first few weeks with the homework assignments and needing to read a book or two a week and write papers longer than I'd ever written. Wandering the halls of my freshman dorm one night, I stopped in to chat with one of the RA's. I found him reading some obscure new novel. I was flabbergasted. "How do you have any time to read the books you want?" I asked. "It's simple," he said. "You either make time to read the books you want or you never will have time". The lesson stuck. I found myself supplementing my college reading list from there on out which has proven to be something I've taken with me throughout my journeys in life.

So here I am. Here's what I've read over these past couple of years. I'll try and call out some of the better ones and what I got from them.

2021

• Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life by Jon Kabat-Zinn
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
• Container Security: Fundamental Technology Concepts that Protect Containerized Applications by Liz Rice
• Red Pill by Hari Kunzru
• Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CSSLP
• The Modern Mercenary: Private Armies and What They Mean for World Order by Sean McFate
• Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins
• The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization by James Bamford
• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
• Red Widow by Alma Katsu
• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
• Zero Trust Networks: Building Secure Systems in Untrusted Networks by Evan Gilman and Doug Barth
• The Pentester BluePrint: Starting a Career as an Ethical Hacker by Philip Wylie and Kim Crawley
• Extreme Ownership: How US Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
• The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, George Spafford
• One of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus
• Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
• The Paladin by David Ignatius
• Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change by Kent Beck and Cynthia Andres
• Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold
• Homeland by Cory Doctorow
• Bloody Genius by John Sandford
• Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer
• This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race by Nicole Perlroth
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brene Brown
• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
• Dare to Lead by Brene Brown
• The 5 Love Language: The Secret to Love that Last by Gary Chapman
• The Every by Dave Eggers
• The Magician King by Lev Grossman
• The Magician's Land By Lev Grossman
• Storytelling with Data: A data visualization guide for business professionals by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic

2022

• The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin
• Dog Songs: Poems by Mary Oliver
• Recursion by Blake Crouch
• Resonant Leadership: Renewing Yourself and Connecting with Others Through Mindfulness, Hope and Compassion by Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee
• The Middleman by Olen Steinhauer
• Daemon by Daniel Suarez
• Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas by Harley Rustad
• Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America by Maggie Haberman
• 2034: A Novel of the Next World War by Elliot Ackerman
• Defend the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5 by Christopher Andrew
• The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Coaching for Performance by John Whitmore
• Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results by James Clear
• The Mirror Test: America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan by J. Kael Weston
• Incident Response & Computer Forensics by Jason Luttgens

2023

• The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business by Erin Meyer
• Seventeen by John Brownlow
• Blue Team Handbook: SOC, SIEM, and Threat Hunting Use Cases: A condensed field guide for the Security Operations team by Don Murdoch
• Cyber Defense Matrix: The Essential Guide to Navigating the Cybersecurity Landscape by Sounil Yu
• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
• India: A History by John Keay
• Here to Make Friends: How to Make Friends as an Adult: Advice to Help You Expand Your Social Circle, Nurture Meaningful Relationships, and Build a Healthier, Happier Social Life by Hope Kelaher
• The Bounty Hunters by Elmore Leonard
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert Pirsig
• A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
• Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
• Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder
• American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin
• The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
• A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab
• The Tools: Transform Your Problems into Courage, Confidence, and Creativity by Phil Stutz and Barry Michels
• Spies and Lies: How China's Greatest Covert Operations Fooled the World by Alex Joske
• The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA's Final Showdown with the KGB by Milton Bearden and James Risen
• The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
• Under the Bright Lights by Daniel Woodrell
• Muscle for the Wing by Daniel Woodrell
• The Ones You Do by Daniel Woodrell
• Pegasus: How a Spy in Your Pocket Threatens the End of Privacy, Dignity, and Democracy by Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud
• The Anshar Gambit by Ian McDowell
• Ultra Learning by Scott Young
• I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
• The Art of Intelligence by Henry Crumpton
• I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
• The Orvis Guide to Beginning Fly Fishing by Tom Rosenbauer
• Slow Horses by Mick Herron
• Pagan Babies by Elmore Leonard
• By All Means Available: Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy by Michael Vickers
• Righteous Prey by John Sandford
• Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America's First Frontier by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin
• The Hank Show: How a House-Painting, Drug-Running DEA Informant Built the Machine That Rules Our Lives by McKenzie Funk
• The Investigator by John Sandford
• The Mysteries by Bill Watterson
• No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with Internal Family Systems Model by Richard Schwartz
• Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations by Ronen Bergman
• Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis 1956-78
• The Handler by MP Woodward
• The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn
• The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man by David von Drehle
• Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
• Going Zero by Anthony McCarten

2024 (So Far)

• Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone
• Wiring the Winning Organization: Liberating Our Collective Greatness through Slowification, Simplification, and Amplification by Gene Kim and Steven Spear
• The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
• The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen
• Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs: A Journey Through the Deep State by Kerry Howley
• Inside the CIA: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Most Powerful Spy Agency by Ronald Kessler
• The Gunslinger by Stephen King
• Changeable: How Collaborative Problem Solving Changes Lives at Home, at School, and at Work by J Stuart Ablon
• Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow
• Curtis Creek Manifesto: A Fully Illustrated Guide to the Strategy, Finesse, Tactics, and Paraphernalia of Fly Fishing by Sheridan Anderson
• The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk
• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
• Moscow X by David McCloskey
• The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin
• Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency by Andy Greenberg
• Reframing Healthcare: A Roadmap for Creating Disruptive Change by Zeev Neuwirth

So what jumps out? If one pulls on your thread of curiosity, ping me and I'll let you know if it's worth your time.

That's the other thing. This list does have some survivorship bias. I heard long ago (and try to listen to it) the advice if you don't like a book after 50 pages, put it down. Life is too short for books that are poorly written or don't interest you.

For me these are the critical few to read of this list if you haven't. This is assuming you are a reader and like a good story, some good prose, a percolating mind.

The Critical Few

The Little Brother Trilogy by Cory Doctorow

• Little Brother
• Homeland
• Attack Surface

These especially pull in those who work in the cyber world and love a good story that brings in encryption, threat modeling, and digital privacy. But even if you are not a cyber geek it's still an incredible story. Little Brother does an amazing job capturing the post 9/11 feel in America and make you viscerally feel what a rendition is. Get this book for your teenagers but also read as an adult.

Container Security by Liz Rice

Probably only interesting to programmers and cyber folks but this is an incredibly written technical book on container security. Starts with fundamental understanding of what containers are and then digs in to the details on how to think about securing them. I've probably read this book cover to cover three times and still glean new things from it. If you need to write a container security policy start with reading this book.

Storytelling with Data by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic

On my list to read again more slowly. Tons of useful tips on how to structure slides, build charts - use your data to tell the real story and not gloss eyes over. She's got a ton of resources also to practice the skills. Brilliant.

By All Means Available by Michael Vickers

Michael Vickers is one of my heroes. I stumbled across this book as I was wanting to see what he was up to since retiring from government service. If you've seen or read Charlie Wilson's War, Michael Vickers is the guy who was the architect of America's clandestine involvement in the 1980's Afghan conflict with the Soviets and later was brought in to think deeply and execute strategy during the War on Terror. He served under multiple presidents and offers a candid assessment of his time serving our country and reflections on what went well and not so well.

The book ends with some excellent principles on career development and leadership:

1. Take only jobs you really like and where you think you can make a real difference. And then to make the most of it and take bold action and not just warm the seat.
2. Expert and Referent Power. Expert Power is possessing the strategic, tactical, and technical skills necessary to lead. Referent Power is having one's ability to lead recognized by others independent of one's position.
3. Job Enlargement. Seek to take on more responsibilities and enlarge the scope of what you are responsible for.
4. The Importance of Mentors. Having the right boss and constellation of bosses is critical for strategic success. Especially for where major changes and strategic direction are at stake.
5. Develop Deep Expertise in an Important Area. And then broaden and develop expertise in other important areas.
6. Building and Rebuilding Intellectual Capital. Be ready for the next responsibility.
7. It is not enough to be smart. You have to have deep operational expertise. You have to be intimately familiar with the immense operational toolkit at your disposal and what will work in a given situation and what will not.
8. Recognizing when you need to adapt your thinking to new realities.
9. Strategic Vision and Leadership. Identifying what really matters and then ensuring the most important things get done.
10. Leave things better than you found them and make a difference