Vernon Kelley, CFDI, CFL, CMIL, CPL, ICML, IFDI, LSFDI, notes the industry’s best books — in his modest opinion, of course. swer the second part, I developed my love of reading because of him. By fourth grade, it was clear that reading was not a strong suit of mine. I struggled T 32 to read, to say the least, and I very rarely read for pleasure. Then I was introduced to my friend, Encyclopedia Brown. I couldn’t tell you what the story was that piqued my interest, but I remember reading all the books in the series that I could get my hands on. That summer, my mother bought a subscription to have a new book sent to me about every three weeks or so. It’s important to understand that $5.95 per book was practically a king’s ransom for my mother to pay, as the family was, shall I say, financially disadvantaged. And I’m trying to put a positive spin on it. (OK, I’ll just say it: We were dirt poor.) Why do I share my tales of reading (and monetary) woe with you? Because I can tell you that thanks to Encyclopedia Brown — and Mom — I read quite well these days, thank you very much. I read for both pleasure and business routinely. Let’s fast-forward a few decades so I can discuss another landmark moment in my KEYNOTES JANUARY 2019 hanks, Encyclopedia Brown! Who is Encyclopedia Brown, and why am I thanking him? The answer to the first part is Encyclopedia Brown is a series of books featuring the adventures of boy detective Leroy Brown, nicknamed “Encyclopedia” for his intelligence and range of knowledge. To an- reading adventures. In the December 2007 issue of Men’s Journal was an article called “Crooks, Spies & Private Eyes: The 15 Best Thrillers Ever.” That was an important article for me since I had just about aban- doned reading for pleasure at that point. I thought I was wasting time reading a novel when I could have my nose stuck in a technical book of some sort. And that is where you, dear reader, en- ter the story, as that article is the impe- tus for this article. I’ll now share with you my 15 favorite locksmith, security and management books. I’m not going to rank them, as they have all helped me tremendously at different times over the last 29 years. This is also not meant to be a critic’s review. I’ve found them too beneficial to me to give them any kind of a negative evaluation. WWW.ALOA.ORG
