Human Hacking Reading List
The Human Hacking Conference 2021 just concluded as a phenomenal success. The event was completely virtual this year and the level of positivity and comradery was second-to-none. We discussed social engineering, human behavior, verbal and non-verbal communication, open source intelligence gathering and much, much more. Besides amazing presentations and training workshops, we had constant discussion going on between the participants, trainers and speakers, and we shared a great deal of useful information with one another.
One of the most active threads of conversation during the conference was the “Book Recommendations” channel. Attendees joined in with fantastic recommendations of books they’ve enjoyed. Some were fun reads; others were life-changing. These books touch on a wide array of topics: social engineering, hacking others, hacking yourself, human behavior, verbal and non-verbal communication, OSINT, leadership, “mind reading”, and even a few enjoyable fiction reads. Such a list shouldn’t go to waste, so I’ve compiled the complete list of recommendations and anyone can feel free to contribute more recommendations in the comments below. (The list is *mostly* in chronological order of the conversation)
*All links are affiliate links for the Innocent Lives Foundation. Any purchase through these links goes to support the ILF and it’s mission to protect children.
- Chris Hadnagy: Human Hacking: Win Friends, Influence People, and Leave Them Better Off For Having Met You
- Chris Hadnagy: Social Engineering: The Science of Human Hacking
- Chris Hadnagy: Phishing Dark Waters: The Offensive and Defensive Sides of Malicious Emails
- Chris Hadnagy: Unmasking the Social Engineer: The Human Element of Security
- Chase Hughes: Six Minute X-Ray: Rapid Behavior Profiling
- Chase Hughes: The Ellipsis Manual: Analysis and Engineering of Human Behavior
- Chase Hughes: Phrase Seven (fiction)
- Chase Hughes: The Belgrade Archer (fiction)
- Joe Navarro: What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People
- Joe Navarro: Louder Than Words
- Joe Navarro: Dangerous Personalities
- Joe Navarro: Three Minutes to Doomsday
- Robin Dreeke: The Code of Trust
- Robin Dreeke: Sizing People Up: A Veteran FBI Agent’s User Manual for Behavior Prediction
- Robin Dreeke: It’s Not All About Me
- Mark Bowden, Tracey Thompson: Truth and Lies: What People Are Really Thinking
- Ian Rowland: The Full Facts Book Of Cold Reading: The definitive guide to how cold reading is used in the psychic industry
- Ian Rowland: Cold Reading For Business: How to apply cold reading psychology to business communications
- Perry Carpenter: Transformational Security Awareness: What Neuroscientists, Storytellers, and Marketers Can Teach Us About Driving Secure Behaviors
- Maxie Reynolds: The Art of Attack: Attacker Mindset for Security Professionals (PRE-ORDER NOW — June 2021!!!!)
- Chris Voss: Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
- Simon Lancaster: You Are Not Human: How Words Kill
- Simon Lancaster: Winning Minds: Secrets From the Language of Leadership
- Scott Rouse: Understanding Body Language: How to Decode Nonverbal Communication in Life, Love, and Work
- Jon Ronson: The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry
- Michael Bazzell: Open Source Intelligence Techniques: Resources for Searching and Analyzing Online Information (Currently Eighth Edition)
- Michael Bazzell: Extreme Privacy: What It Takes to Disappear
- David Nott: War Doctor: Surgery on the Front Line
- Sigmund Freud: The Interpretation of Dreams
- Don Tennant, Michael Floyd, and Susan Carnicero: Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception
- Jack Schafer and Marvin Karlins: The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over
- Jack Schafer and Marvin Karlins: The Truth Detector: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide for Getting People to Reveal the Truth
- Ryan Gottfredson: Success Mindsets: Your Keys to Unlocking Greater Success in Your Life, Work, & Leadership
- Billy Boatright: Swing Away: Conquering Impostor Syndrome
- Clifford Stoll: The Cuckoo’s Egg
- Maria Konnikova: The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It…Every Time
- Robert Cialdini: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
- Ryan Holiday: Ego is the Enemy
- Simon Sinek: Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t
- Jocko Willink and Leif Babin: Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
- Jocko Willink and Leif Babin: The Dichotomy Of Leadership: Balancing The Challenges Of Extreme Ownership To Lead And Win
- Jay Shetty: Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day
- Tasha Eurich: Insight: The Surprising Truth About How Others See Us, How We See Ourselves, and Why the Answers Matter More Than We Think
- Brendan Kane: Hook Point: How to Stand Out in a 3-Second World
- Michael O’Connor and Tony Alessandra: The Platinum Rule: Discover the Four Basic Business Personalities and How They Can Lead You to Success
- L. David Marquet: Turn the Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers Into Leaders
- Jennifer Jin and Marcus J. Carey: Tribe of Hackers: Cybersecurity Advice from the Best Hackers in the World (Hackers, Red Team, Blue Team and Security Leaders editions)
If you find this list overwhelming, it’s okay. What’s the best way to eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Please feel free to review the list, comment on any books here you’ve found beneficial and, of course, any other recommendations you have.
My great thanks to all of the attendees I enjoyed the conference alongside and especially those who contributed their recommendations to this list!
