Gary Noesner's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Gary Noesner recommends? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Gary Noesner's favorite book recommendations of all time. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Robert B. Cialdini

4.3

Preview Summary

Influence, the classic book on persuasion, explains the psychology of why people say "yes"—and how to apply these understandings. Dr. Robert Cialdini is the seminal expert in the rapidly expanding field of influence and persuasion. His thirty-five years of rigorous, evidence-based research along with a three-year program of study on what moves people to change behavior has resulted in this highly

Recommended by Charles T. Munger, Dan Ariely, Jim Collins, and 40 others.

Gary Noesner

It’s a book that really was the foundation for much of what we spearheaded in the FBI that moved professional negotiators towards becoming crisis interveners. [source]

Charles T. Munger

Vice Chairman/Berkshire Hathaway

Robert Cialdini has had a greater impact on my thinking on this topic than any other scientist. [source]

Dan Ariely

Author

It covers a range of ways in which we end up doing things, and how we don’t understand why we’re doing them. [source]

Cover unavailable

Bullets, Bombs, and Fast Talk: Twenty-five Years of FBI War Stories

James Botting

4.3

A desperate gunman holds a planeload of innocent passengers hostage. A heavily armed cult leader refuses to leave his compound, threatening mass suicide by a hundred of his brainwashed followers. A neo-Nazi militant in a cabin hideout keeps federal agents at bay with gunfire. A baby disappears; his only trace is an ominous ransom call to his parents. Prisoners riot, threatening the lives of prison

Recommended by Gary Noesner.

Gary Noesner

I think to be an effective and successful negotiator you have to have a lot of self-control and avoid becoming emotionally involved in the situation yourself. Rudyard Kipling has a famous quote which says, ‘If you can keep your head while all about are losing theirs…’ and it is something I include in my book because I think it is a good indicator of someone that will be successful as a negotiator. Also you have to be a very good listener and to acknowledge the perspective and viewpoint of the other person without necessarily agreeing or disagreeing with it. So I think those are some of the great skills that you would see in a good negotiator. [source]

Negotiating Hostage Crises with the New Terrorists

Adam Dolnik, Keith M. Fitzgerald

4.5

This book is about the role of negotiation in resolving terrorist barricade hostage crises. What lessons can be learned from past deadly incidents so that crisis negotiators and decision makers can act with greater effectiveness in the future? What are the lessons the terrorists are learning and how will they affect the dynamics of future incidents? What can we learn about the terrorist threat, an

Recommended by Gary Noesner.

Gary Noesner

I actually met Adam Dolnik at a conference in Turkey and he asked me to review his book and write a foreword for it, which I ended up doing. And I think it is a very interesting book because they examine primarily terrorist hostage sieges that occurred in Russia. For example, they looked at the Beslan school and Moscow theatre situations. Their premise is that the authorities are under-prepared to deal with the new terrorist, who is a bit more sophisticated in understanding how to manipulate law enforcement’s response. [source]

Crisis Negotiations: Managing Critical Incidents and Hostage Situations in Law Enforcement and Corrections

Michael J. McMains, Wayman C. Mullins

4.1

Leading authorities on negotiations present the result of years of research, application, testing and experimentation, and practical experience. Principles and applications from numerous disciplines are combined to create a conceptual framework for the hostage negotiator. Ideas and concepts are explained so that the practicing negotiator can apply the principles outlined.

Recommended by Gary Noesner.

Gary Noesner

I assisted the authors with their first edition; they are now on their fourth edition. This is more of a textbook for negotiation practitioners. It certainly talks about techniques and so forth. It may not be particularly appealing to the average citizen who wants to learn more about this but I think for someone who wants to pursue a career in this or learn more about how it works at the street level this is the only book out there which really covers it from that academic perspective. [source]

Cover unavailable

Hostage Cop

Captain Frank Bolz, Edward Hershey, Frank Bolz

4.0

Recommended by Gary Noesner.

Gary Noesner

This was the first book to come out on this subject. Frank Bolz is one of the founding fathers of hostage negotiation in the New York City Police Department. His book tells the story about how negotiations got started in New York and what the basic concepts were. It focuses on the classic bargaining interactions where someone is holding a hostage and a negotiator shows up and says, for example, ‘Hey listen, I want to help you but my boss wants to get something for this, so before I can give you what you want, you need to do something for me.’ [source]