New job in electronic surveillance, need tips on personal curriculum

I'm a network guy who recently got a job in electronic surveillance, even though I know little about hardware and electronics. I study as hard as I can to catch up but I'm a bit overwhelmed and not sure where to begin.

Could someone suggest a small-ish reading list? I am mainly focussing on basic electronics/electricity, but I feel like it's going to take years to catch up to the people here who are electricians/engineers and whatnot. Perhaps there is a happy middle ground that I could study, between low level electronics/physics/math and high level stuff such as general principles of surveillance.

Work entails a lot of alarms and pass control systems, both physical and software installations, troubleshooting et c.

I would love some tips!