MGySgt Scott Stalker’s 2020 Reading List

MGySgt Scott H. Stalker’s 2020 Reading List

By William Knowles @c4i
Senior Editor
InfoSec News
July 8, 2020

One of the interesting parts of the COVID-19 pandemic with the number of experts on television and online video conferences have been what books are on their bookshelves. I’ve found myself on more than a few occasions taking screenshots to look and decipher them later. 

One longstanding habit of mine is learning about various business leaders and military personnel’s reading lists. While looking for one thing on the USCYBERCOM website, I stumbled across MGySgt Scott Stalker’s 2020 Reading List and thought I’d share this with InfoSec News readers with Amazon links. InfoSec News gets a small commission from Amazon for books and other products sold with our ID.

MGySgt Scott Stalker has been the Command Senior Enlisted Leader (CSEL) of the United States Cyber Command, the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Central Security Service (CSS) in Fort Meade, Maryland, serving since March 16, 2018. He is the first to hold the position of CSEL for all three agencies during their career.

“As servants of the Nation, we hold ourselves to high standards. To fulfill our oaths and maintain a state of readiness, it is imperative that we engage in physical activity so that we are best able to act, in the harshest of conditions, as mission requires. Equally as important is our cognitive fitness. To help you exercise your mental muscles, I’ve made a list of books that helped shape me into the leader I am today. Touching on emotional intelligence, character, warfighting, history, philosophy, and ethics, my reading list focuses on the fundamental characteristics necessary to be calm in crisis. This diverse book list is here to augment your own reading choices and assist in our shared quest of lifelong learning. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on these books and taking any recommendations you may have for me to read.“

Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives by Richard Swenson 

LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media by P. W. Singer 

Madame Fourcade’s Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France’s Largest Spy Network Against Hitler by Lynne Olson

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know Hardcover by Malcolm Gladwell

Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? by Graham Allison  

Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life by Tony Dungy and Nathan Whitaker 

The Three Wars of Roy Benavidez by Roy P. Benavidez and Oscar Griffin

The Hundred-Year Marathon: China’s Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower by Michael Pillsbury 

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World by Tim Marshall  

Small Boats and Daring Men: Maritime Raiding, Irregular Warfare, and the Early American Navy by Benjamin Armstrong

The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle

War Story: A Memoir by Steven Elliott