A Year in Reading

My mother was the one who gave me the gift of reading. She made it a priority to make sure all of her children were literate and capable of becoming life-long learners, though sometimes she would jokingly say she regretted that when it came time to move my books. Reading was important to her because she believes in Truth with a capital T, especially the truth of her faith. We were taught to read to read the Bible, but the idea went far beyond that because for her all truth has God at its foundation. Therefore, one is to read widely to learn about all the world has to offer because that which is true is from the Divine. This past year I set out a challenge for myself that I ultimately failed. I wanted to read more than 100 books, which is something I have not done since I was in graduate school. Obviously, it is much more difficult to read that many books while working and having a life, but I tried to make it a priority. The end result was that I finished 90 books, and I learned so much doing this project beyond just the mere facts found in the texts. This week I want to go through those lessons and encourage others to come up with a 2024 reading plan to help themselves.

My 2023 Reading Challenge

As I said, I wanted to read 100 books in 2023, but I just didn’t want to read any books to hit that goal. I assiduously worked through the kinds of books that would be most beneficial to my career and personal life to make the most out of dedicated studying. For example, I started out the year by reading a significant number of books on intelligence analysis and social engineering. When I did red teaming, we had to learn a great deal about social engineering, but I wanted to focus on developing a real expertise in the subject. Therefore, I collected all the best books I knew from the literature and read them; there were twelve such books in total (not including the relevant novels). Another subject that I wanted to advance my knowledge on was the intersection of geopolitics and cybersecurity, especially semiconductors and artificial intelligence. For a few weeks I meditated on wargaming, then another month I spent entirely reading about China, and throughout I read about the history of intelligence. Then there were a couple random subjects thrown into the mix, such as the issue of the masculinity crisis or biographies of Machiavelli, Kissinger, Buckley, Kirkpatrick, and Churchill.

There are several lessons I learned approaching reading this way the past year. First and most importantly, by reading several books of the same topic close together, I was able to draw important analytic conclusions and connect disparate data points I otherwise might have forgotten or missed. I highly recommend approaching a subject this way. Second, I learned that random knowledge can sometimes be extremely useful. For example, while reading about Churchill I was able to work through ideas on geopolitics, and reading about the crisis in masculinity I was able to see (and help with) problems in my friends’ lives. While the first lesson stands that reading several books on the same subject in succession helps you master the issue far more easily, there is tremendous benefit in adding unusual or outside the box subjects to keep the mind stimulated. Third, I learned that there is a lot of hokum and malarkey out there masquerading as acumen in the security profession. This may be axiomatic to many, but I spent years studying intelligence and security from academic perspectives. Reading a few dozen books by practitioners really demonstrated a need for industry standardization when it comes to subject (insert shameless plug for The Close Protection and Security Journal). Finally, this challenge re-solidified my love of being a life-long learner. Even if I can’t achieve the goal of 100 books in a year (and I probably won’t for some time), gaining new knowledge is such a precious gift that it truly reignited a passion that was waning as I moved forward in my career. I am most thankful for that.

An Important Note: Reading Novels

The majority of the books I read in 2023 were non-fiction and focused on security, intelligence, technology, and geopolitics, but I did end up reading (or re-reading) several wonderful novels, including Pride and Prejudice, The Thursday Murder Club, The Man Who Died Twice, and Red Rising. A confession I have is that for many years I looked down on reading novels as a waste of time. They did not have facts, data, or information, and I sneered at them as sentimental drivel meant to create a distraction for the mundane lives of those who read them… It turns out I was fundamentally wrong, and I unequivocally state that now. Novels are brilliant tools to help analysts and security professionals as they engage the world around them. As a contained story, it teaches the reader about internal dialogue, motivations, causal mechanisms, society, culture, and so much more. Take for instance one of my favorite novels I re-read this year: Pride and Prejudice. I believe wholeheartedly that if someone wants to understand the human mind that Jane Austen and Fyodor Dostoevsky offer more insight into the human condition than all of the academic research into psychology combined. Other brilliant novels that can help people better see the world include Lord of the Rings, Frankenstein, The Count of Monte Cristo, and the works of Edgar Allen Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle. Analysts and security professionals should not fall into the pretentious and pseudo-logical trap that I fell into years ago before I discovered how a beautiful novel can open the mind as much as a history book.

Best Books of 2023 Reading List

The following are what I consider the best books I read in 2023, and I hope you will enjoy them as well.

Intelligence Analysis: A Target-Centric Approach - Robert Clark

• Excellent book, though slightly dense. It’s primarily about the use of intel in military operations, but his exploration of deconstruction of intel issues and creating mental models to better target collection/analysis is easily applicable to the corporate world.

A Man and His Presidents – Felzenberg

• Simply a brilliant and fun biography of one of my favorite political figures! William F. Buckley, Jr. became the “father of American conservatism” when he established National Review and midwifed a political movement that would fundamentally reshape American politics. Buckley is such a fascinating figure because he was able to make a truly minority political opinion mainstream through sheer wit, writing ability, and debate, exemplifying the essence of the agora in a democracy.

Mastermind – Maria Konnikova

• Sherlock Holmes (imo) is the greatest archetype of logical AND critical thinking, and Konnikova goes through the mechanisms by which Holmes is able to do his deductions, including the brain attic, observation, imagination, education, and abductive reasoning. The basis of the book is obviously the short stories of Holmes, but she brings in a tremendous amount of psychological research to show that Doyle was decades ahead of his time when it came to understanding how critical thinking works. Some of the psychology is hokum, but all of her general points are true.

Range – David Epstein

• This is one of my favorite books, and re-reading it inspired so many thoughts and ideas. Epstein goes through how specialization only works in very narrow areas (chess, golf, surgery), but that generalization is significantly better for the vast majority of jobs that require strategic and critical thinking. He discusses a number of fascinating areas that shows analogous thinking, lateral thinking, outside the box thinking, etc. all improve performance and innovation, and the best way to do each of these is through being more generalist than specialist. Actually, the best combination is to be a specialist in one area who then studies/works in/engages multiple other areas to bring in ideas to their specialization.

World Order – Henry Kissinger

• Highly recommend this book for geopolitical risk and intelligence analysts. A critical aspect of red teaming is taking on an adversarial mindset. It not only helps you give insight into their behavior, but it also prevents mirror imaging analysis. In this magisterial sweep across the world, Kissing expertly delineates the different ways Europe, Russia, Middle East, China, Japan, India, and the US approach the concept of “world order” and how that impacts their foreign policies. Understanding these perspectives will be incredibly helpful for scenario building and forecasting geopolitical events.

Four Battlegrounds – Paul Scharre

• Absolutely fantastic book! I’m glad I read this book after The Age of AI, The New Fire, and Chip Wars because they gave a solid grounding to better understand this text. Scharre explores how AI is utilized by militaries and governments, which gives a strong practical understanding of AI as a tool. The future will require literally everyone to effectively and responsibly use AI tools, so this was a wonderful exploration of how that is currently happening and could happen in the future. The reason I’m glad I read those other books first is because Scharre doesn’t spend a lot of time on the philosophical, extremely technical, or supply chain issues connected to all of this.

The Inevitability of Tragedy – Barry Gewen

• Gewen compares and contrasts the thoughts and ideas of Henry Kissinger to three other German-Jewish refugees to America escaping the Nazis: Hannah Arendt, Leo Strauss, and Hans Morgenthau. All four intellectuals shared certain ideas with each other, such as opposing the quantitative aspects of political science, a pessimistic view of human nature, deeply patriotic (in their own ways), rejecting liberalism and Marxism, adhering to the Western tradition, and “thinking without banisters.” The most interesting thing that the author describes is the "undemocratic" beliefs of all four thinkers, and I especially loved how the book spent time on how realism (realpolitik) offers guidelines for policy, but not prescriptions.

Of Boys and Men – Richard Reeves

• Dr. Reeves approaches the issue from a liberal (broadly understood) perspective that focuses on egalitarianism, so his philosophy might differ from yours (as it does mine). However, he takes the issues seriously and is focused on solutions. I think there are a few gaps in the book, though. For example, in his discussions on education he focuses on neurological development, but I would argue pedagogy is a critical explanatory variable for why boys are falling behind in education. His policy solutions are creative and practical, and I loved the breadth of topics covered.

Influence – Robert Cialdini

• Absolute perfection. I’ve read a lot of social engineering books that cite Cialdini, so I thought I understood the concepts. Wrong. This book is so much more than anyone could summarize. Every security professional should read it, and I’d actually put it in my Top 10 security books. I regret not reading it sooner. Not all the lessons will be immediately apparent, so you definitely need to take notes and think the issues through.

Reading in 2024

I want to encourage everyone to come up with their own reading plans for 2024 because I truly believe everyone should seek to be life-long learners. You probably won’t read 100 books in a year, but even a book or two a month can really advance your knowledge and life. Find your passion or skills you want to develop or even hobbies, and then take the time to assiduously cultivate the life of the mind. Hopefully, some of the books described can help you on your journey.

January Cocktail – Espresso Martini

While not a true martini, the espresso martini is my favorite after dessert cocktail that I will usually drink with an espresso. This is a modern cocktail that was invented by the “UK’s crown prince of cocktails” – Dick Bradsell. He was working at the Soho Brasserie in 1983 when a young model asked him for an impertinent drink that would “pick me up, then **** me up.” Dick saw the espresso machine, and he decided to mix the brew with vodka and sugar. That may be the origin, but there have been some nice improvements.

Recipe

1. Brew one ounce of espresso (use your preferred beans, but make sure they’re good). Set aside to let the brew cool off.
2. (If you do not keep martini glasses in the freezer, then this is when you add ice to a glass to cool it off.)
3. Fill shaker with ice. Pour in 2 ounces of vodka (preferably Belvedere or Grey Goose), 1 ounce of cooled espresso, and 1 ounce of Kahlua. (You can add a touch of simple syrup if you like it REALLY sweet. Or you can substitute Bailey’s for the simple syrup if you want it creamy.)
4. Shake for 15 seconds.
5. Pour out the ice from the martini glass.
6. Pour mixture from the shaker over a strainer into the glass.
7. Garnish with three (3) coffee beans.