Only one person is responsible for an individual’s safety. At some stage of life, we are all conditioned to believe that organizations external to our own existence will provide us with security. In reality, we alone are responsible for it. Everything else is merely potential assistance, often delivered after the fact.

There are many opinions on how this issue should be approached. In all of them, however, one principle eventually emerges: “know yourself and your capabilities.” Without understanding the limits of our own mental and physical capacity, there is no point in attempting to build any form of protective architecture. Without knowledge of the basic principles governing how our brain functions — how it makes decisions and how the thinking process unfolds — effective analysis of the problems that each of us will inevitably face in life is impossible.

We are presenting a portion of our Compendium, which will be expanded gradually, though systematically. This is essential theory that enables the cultivation and refinement of practical actions. It is also worth remembering that Homo sapiens, among all other human species, survived — not because of muscle strength.

Below is a structured intelligence reading system organized the way many professional intelligence or analytical organizations structure internal learning. The idea is not just reading widely but building progressively deeper analytical capability across our team. This is only the beginning. We divided it into Tier-1 (Foundations), Tier-2 (Professional Practice), Tier-3 (Mastery / Advanced Insight).

Tier-1: Foundations of Intelligence & Risk Analysis

Intelligence analysis fundamentals

• Psychology of Intelligence Analysis — Richards J. Heuer Jr.
• Structured Analytic Techniques for Intelligence Analysis — Richards J. Heuer Jr. & Randolph Pherson
• Intelligence Analysis: A Target‑Centric Approach — Robert M. Clark
• Analyzing Intelligence: Origins, Obstacles, and Innovations — Roger Z. George & James Bruce

Decision-making & cognitive bias

• Thinking, Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman
• Superforecasting — Philip Tetlock
• The Signal and the Noise — Nate Silver
• Good Strategy Bad Strategy — Richard Rumelt

Risk & threat perception

• The Gift of Fear — Gavin de Becker
• Just 2 Seconds — Gavin de Becker

Intelligence history & context

• Strategic Intelligence for American World Policy — Sherman Kent
• The Craft of Intelligence — Allen Dulles
• On Intelligence — Mark M. Lowenthal

Corporate / competitive intelligence

• Competitive Intelligence Advantage — Seena Sharp
• Intelligence Studies in Business — Klaus Solberg Söilen

Geopolitical risk

• The Fat Tail — Ian Bremmer

Crisis and warning systems

• Warnings: Finding Cassandras to Stop Catastrophes — Richard A. Clarke

Strategic thinking

• The Strategy Paradox — Michael Raynor
• Seeing What Others Don’t — Gary Klein

• Sources of Power — Gary Klein

Tier-2: Professional Intelligence Practice

Intelligence operations & analysis

• The Art of Intelligence — Henry A. Crumpton
• The CIA Guide to Intelligence Analysis — CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence
• The Handbook of Intelligence Studies — Loch Johnson

Corporate intelligence & investigations

• Corporate Intelligence and Espionage — Kevin D. Freeman
• Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals — SCIP
• Business Intelligence Guidebook — Rick Sherman

Risk management

• Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk — Peter L. Bernstein
• The Black Swan — Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• Skin in the Game — Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Crisis & security

• Managing Crises Before They Happen — Ian Mitroff
• Crisis Management — Steven Fink

Investigative thinking

• The Skeptical Inquirer’s Guide to Investigation — Joe Nickell
• Spy the Lie — Philip Houston

Competitive strategy

• Competitive Strategy — Michael Porter
• The Power of Intelligence — Robert David Steele

Human behavior & influence

• Thinking in Bets — Annie Duke
• Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) — Carol Tavris

Information warfare & security

• LikeWar — P.W. Singer
• Active Measures — Thomas Rid
• The New Rules of War — Sean McFate

Tier-3: Advanced Insight & Strategic Perspective

Strategy classics

• The Art of War — Sun Tzu
• On War — Carl von Clausewitz
• Makers of Modern Strategy — Peter Paret

Strategic history

• The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire — Edward Luttwak
• Strategy: A History — Lawrence Freedman

Intelligence case studies

• Legacy of Ashes — Tim Weiner
• The Billion Dollar Spy — David Hoffman

• The Secret World — Christopher Andrew

Geopolitics

• The Revenge of Geography — Robert Kaplan
• The Tragedy of Great Power Politics — John Mearsheimer

Power & influence

• The Power Broker — Robert A. Caro
• The Dictator’s Handbook — Bruce Bueno de Mesquita

Risk & uncertainty

• Fooled by Randomness — Nassim Nicholas Taleb

• The Logic of Failure — Dietrich Dörner

Complex decision environments

• The Fifth Risk — Michael Lewis

• Red Team — Micah Zenko

Human conflict

• Moral Mazes — Robert Jackall
• The Lucifer Effect — Philip Zimbardo

Systems thinking

• Thinking in Systems — Donella Meadows
• The Checklist Manifesto — Atul Gawande

Additionally

• Emotional Intelligence — Daniel Goleman
• Chaos. Making a New Science — James Gleick
• Diplomacy — Henry Kissinger
• Rise and Kill First. The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations — Ronen Bergman
• Snakes in Suits, Revised Edition: Understanding and Surviving the Psychopaths in Your Office — Paul Babiak, Robert D. Hare
• The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity — David Graeber
• Influence, New and Expanded: The Essential Guide to the Psychology of Influence and Persuasion in Everyday Life — Robert Cialdini
• Propaganda — Edward L. Bernays
• Behave. The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst — Robert M. Sapolsky
• Determined. A Science of Life Without Free Will — Robert M. Sapolsky

“Intelligence analysts should be self-conscious about their reasoning process. They should think about how they make judgments and reach conclusions, not just about the judgments and conclusions themselves. Webster’s dictionary defines judgment as arriving at a ‘decision or conclusion on the basis of indications and probabilities when the facts are not clearly ascertained.’ Judgment is what analysts use to fill gaps in their knowledge. It entails going beyond the available information and is the principal means of coping with uncertainty. It always involves an analytical leap, from the known into the uncertain.”

— Psychology of Intelligence Analysis, Richards J. Heuer, Jr.