Best personal security and awareness books
Most of personal security is noticing trouble early and avoiding it. These books focus on awareness, instincts, and the realities of violence, not gear.
5 books, beginner-friendly first.

The Gift of Fear
Gavin de Becker · 2000
Gavin de Becker on trusting your instincts to recognize danger before violence happens.
beginner
SAS Urban Survival Handbook
John Wiseman · 2008
Survival skills for home and city: fires, floods, and everyday emergencies.
beginnerLarge referenceFacing Violence
Rory Kane Miller · 2011
Rory Miller on the seven things you need to handle sudden violence, including what happens legally afterward.
intermediate
Left of Bang
Patrick Van Horne, Jason A. Riley, Shawn Coyne · 2014
How the Marine Corps teaches spotting threats early through behavior and baseline.
intermediate
Meditations on Violence
Rory Kane Miller · 2008
Rory Miller on the realities of violence compared with what martial arts training assumes.
intermediate