Business, war, love and a world traveling chocolate lab named Java all converge on a 10,000 mile road trip taken by a former Green Beret trying to build something meaningful in America - but not yet knowing how to do it. Great businesses don't always have great starts. In the summer of 2010, Green Beret Jason McCarthy was going through a divorce, separating from the military, and struggling with money issues. He used his new company GORUCK as an excuse to drive to all lower 48 states with his dog Java, to meet people and get into adventures, while searching for how to rebuild in America. How Not To Start A Backpack Company is about losing your way, losing the love of your life, and finding your way back to both - the hard way. It's an intimate and raw look at the personal struggles that almost killed GORUCK long before it became a $100 million company. And above all, it's a story of the importance of chasing your dreams with everything you got, no matter the cost. Direct from Jason: In between years at Georgetown's McDonough School of Business, I decided not to pursue a traditional internship path. Instead, I drove around the county to all 48 contiguous states with my dog Java to pursue what was little more than a hobby at the time: GORUCK. I lost a bunch of money, didn't sell any backpacks, and everyone else who came with me left, but I had a great front row seat to watch my life burn down before my very eyes. The silver lining was that this trip became instrumental in turning things around because I was motivated to not live in flames. This is not a traditional business or entrepreneurship book. There are a lot of pictures of the early days, a few pages from the original business plan (that I threw away), a journal I kept along the road that I never published, email exchanges with my then almost ex-wife, and some cautionary tales ... hell, it's almost one enormous cautionary tale. But above all I hope my story inspires others to NOT wait for the perfect time to follow their dreams, but just to get going and figure it out on the move. -JJM

The definitive career guide for grad students, adjuncts, post-docs and anyone else eager to get tenure or turn their Ph.D. into their ideal job Each year tens of thousands of students will, after years of hard work and enormous amounts of money, earn their Ph.D. And each year only a small percentage of them will land a job that justifies and rewards their investment. For every comfortably tenured professor or well-paid former academic, there are countless underpaid and overworked adjuncts, and many more who simply give up in frustration. Those who do make it share an important asset that separates them from the pack: they have a plan. They understand exactly what they need to do to set themselves up for success. They know what really moves the needle in academic job searches, how to avoid the all-too-common mistakes that sink so many of their peers, and how to decide when to point their Ph.D. toward other, non-academic options. Karen Kelsky has made it her mission to help readers join the select few who get the most out of their Ph.D. As a former tenured professor and department head who oversaw numerous academic job searches, she knows from experience exactly what gets an academic applicant a job. And as the creator of the popular and widely respected advice site The Professor is In, she has helped countless Ph.D.’s turn themselves into stronger applicants and land their dream careers. Now, for the first time ever, Karen has poured all her best advice into a single handy guide that addresses the most important issues facing any Ph.D., including: -When, where, and what to publish -Writing a foolproof grant application -Cultivating references and crafting the perfect CV -Acing the job talk and campus interview -Avoiding the adjunct trap -Making the leap to nonacademic work, when the time is right The Professor Is In addresses all of these issues, and many more.

In Backpack Ambassadors, Richard Ivan Jobs tells the story of backpacking in Europe in its heyday, the decades after World War II, revealing that these footloose young people were doing more than just exploring for themselves. Rather, with each step, each border crossing, each friendship, they were quietly helping knit the continent together.

A guide for being fully equipped to succeed on the journey of life The Backpack: How to Understand and Manage Yourself While Loving Others Along the Way tells the story of Jon, Sofia, and Buddy whose pathways merge on a life-changing flight. Written by a senior consultant with the Flippen Group (a world-wide leader in self-awareness training), the book brings together an angry passenger, a wise flight attendant, and a down-home cowboy. Their chance meeting leads to the ride of their lives as they fully grasp the importance and meaning of their backpacks. As this engaging story reveals, self-awareness is like a backpack! If we are to be prepared to succeed on the journey of life, we need to know and accept which backpack is ours, decide what we need to put in it or take out of it, and be fully aware of how our backpacks are affecting all of the other passengers around us. The question is: Are we whacking the other passengers with our backpack as we travel through life. . . or are we helping them? Offers life lessons on self-awareness written in the form of a funny and engaging story Shows how we can lighten, fill and understand our “backpack” in order to lead a more successful life Written by a senior consultant with the Flippen Group The Backpack offers a story that explores the concepts of self-awareness and other-awareness, including the importance of appreciating your personality, living by your core values, mentally preparing for your day, being aware of your impact on others and packing your backpack wisely.

Whether you are dreaming of steaming jungle treks, conquering untamed peaks, chatting up the hottie in the hostel or simply chilling out on an isolated beach - this book is your ticket to turning your travel dreams into reality. Packed to bursting with backpacking tips and tricks, How to Travel the World on $10 a Day is the ultimate planning resource for the low-budget traveller. Better still, you'll learn how to stretch your dollars further by picking up work on the road, so if you don't want to go back home, you don't have to. Ditch your desk, take the plunge and hit the road... With this book by your side you'll save thousands of dollars, skip unnecessary headaches and be able to travel the world with confidence. "Will Hatton has been on the road for nine years, travelling to far-flung lands and visiting close to 100 countries all over the world. His blog, the Broke Backpacker, is one of the most popular adventure travel blogs in the world. A keen hitchhiker, Will has hitchhiked tens of thousands of kilometers, crossing Europe, Iran, Pakistan, India and South East Asia by thumb. Will plans to open a backpacker hostel in the mountains of Pakistan. If you find yourself nearby -- come say hey!