Ghosts of Everest: The Search for Mallory & Irvine

I happen to think climbing 8000 meter peaks is a foolhardy undertaking...

I offer as proof this story which started with the death of two climbers attempting to be the first reach the summit of Mt Everest in 1924. Mallory and Irvine were last seen "climbing with alacrity" toward the peak...and were never seen or heard from again. Their fate was unknown, until a 1999 expedition was mounted to solve the mystery, find the climbers' bodies, and determine if they reached the summit. The 1999 expedition was partially successful, but you'll have to read the book to learn precisely in what way. Ghosts of Everest is not only a captivating account of two mountain climbing adventures set 75 years apart, it is also a detective story.

Roadside Picnic

Written by the Brothers Strugatsky - Arkady and Boris...

Roadside Picnic was the basis for the film Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky. I couldn't afford a copy of the book so I read the Cryptomaoist Editions PDF of it using the Bookman PDF reader app on my iPhone.  Spooky, evocative, heart-felt science fiction.

CPTED Resources

That's Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design for the acronym averse...

 The infamous Cabrini-Green - the opposite of CPTED

CPTED is the idea that we can shape our built environment to increase the ability of legitimate users of a space to assert and retain control of its proper use.  The inverse of this principal is that poorly thought out spaces can actually contribute to social disorder and crime.

There is a CPTED group at LinkedIn managed by Severin Sorenson, a consultant and one of the top people in the field. I am reposting the links from a reference list he maintains there as a service to those security practitioners who do not yet have a LinkedIn account (?!!) or subscribe to the CPTED group.

Anything by Randall Atlas is worth reading. His website is here.

Likewise Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design by the late Timothy Crowe is a classic in the field.

In the mean time just in case you haven't read Oscar Newman's Creating Defensible Space your reference library is incomplete.  Follow the link for a free PDF of this classic text.

National Crime Prevention Institute (NCPI) at the University of Louisville.

And there's the International CPTED Association.

The Wikipedia external links on the topic lead us to an interesting annotated bibliography.

When all else fails you can Google: Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design PDF

Center for Problem Oriented Policing

Design for Security - Milan

US DOJ Using Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design in Problem-Solving

Secured by Design (UK)

Felson and Clarke's Opportunity Makes the Thief - Practical theory for crime prevention

"Counter Terrorism Protective Security Advice for Shopping Centres" isn't strictly CPTED

The GSA Site Security Design Guide is recommended

Crime Prevention Research (UK Home Office)

California Crime Prevention Officers Association (CCPOA)

CPTED Ontario

Designing Out Crime Association

Environmental Design at Wikipedia

Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA)

Environmental Psychology (Wikipedia)

European Designing Out Crime Association

Florida Design Out Crime Association

International Society of Crime Prevention Practitioners (ISCPP)

Law Enforcement Environmental Planning Association of California (LEEPAC)

National Institute of Crime Prevention

Place Making for Communities

United States Designing Out Crime Association

This is just a sampling of the many resources out there for people and organizations to apply to their communities.

UPDATE (31 January 2012): Here are some new crime prevention resources recommended by participants in a long running LinkedIn thread.

Counter Terrorism Protective Security Advice for Shopping Centres

Crowded Places: The Planning System and Counter-Terrorism

Crime and Everyday Life by Marcus Felson

Crime Prevention through Environmental Design: Guidelines for Queensland - Part A: Essential features of safer places

Crime Prevention through Environmental Design: Guidelines for Queensland - Part B: Implementation Guide

Building Safe Toilet Design into Shared Urban Space by Carol McCreary

FEMA Security Risk Management Series

FEMA Site and Urban Design for Security

National Guidelines for Crime Prevention through Environmental Design in New Zealand Part 1: Seven Qualities of Safer Places - Published November 2005

National Guidelines for Crime Prevention through Environmental Design in New Zealand Part 2: Implementation Guide - Published November 2005

Peel Regional Police (leaders in CPTED)

PLANNING URBAN DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT FOR CRIME PREVENTION HANDBOOK

Safer Places: The Planning System and Crime Prevention

THE THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT OF 'CPTED': 25 YEARS OF RESPONSES TO C. RAY JEFFERY

The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs

Toronto Police Services CPTED brochure

UPDATE (22 July 2012): Gregory Saville points us all to an updated CPTED bibliography at Safe Cascadia.  See also the 6 March 2012 Eclectic Breakfast post titled Safe Cascadia.

The End of Al Qaeda’s WMD Threat

I continue to enjoy the responsible attitude and thought-provoking discussions at Homeland Security Watch...

From Alan Wolfe's post of 22 August 2011 titled The End of Al Qaeda’s WMD Threat

"Despite a decade of continued terrorist incidents against the West, resulting in tens of thousands of casualties every year, we have yet to see a mass casualty incident caused by a nuclear, biological, or chemical weapon."

He makes a solid case that is well worth reading if you worry about such things.

UPDATE: On a related axis Bruce Schneier (8/26/2011) steers his readers to an excellent anthology examining Islamic terrorism cases in the US since 9/11.

TED Talks for a Class I've Been Asked to Teach in October

I'm excited to be working on the curriculum for a class I haven't taught before...

When teaching the Principles of Security Management class (SM401) in the B.S. in Security Management program at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota I use several TED talks with good effect.

Loretta Napoleoni: The intricate economics of terrorism

Misha Glenny investigates global crime networks

Steven Levitt analyzes crack economics

Philip Zimbardo shows how people become monsters ... or heroes

Steven Pinker on the myth of violence

Winter semester I plan to add Bruce Schneier: The security mirage

In SM404 Security Techniques and Technology we will examine "current issues, trends, and technologies available to address security problems and issues. Topics include environmental design, executive protection, and technology advances for information and physical security, along with professional development practices."  New class calls for new tools so I'm having a relook at several TED talks I've enjoyed, including the following:

Ralph Langner: Cracking Stuxnet, a 21st-century cyber weapon

Rogier van der Heide: Why light needs darkness

John Kasaona: How poachers became caretakers

Alan Siegel: Let's simplify legal jargon

Gary Lauder's new traffic sign: Take Turns

Temple Grandin: The world needs all kinds of minds

Julian Treasure: The 4 ways sound affects us

David Kelley on human-centered design

TED has more than a thousand talks to choose from.  Try one for work, for school, or for fun.

Photo credit Sam Magraby at Photos8.com 

UPDATE: I was informed 18 October 2011 that the class will not be held this semester.  Rats...would have been fun.