Out today: A peer-reviewed, data-driven book about how to hack it in academia. Despite not being a modest person, I admit even I felt a bit weird about writing a book like this when JHU approached me. But it provided a chance to use my research from Cracks in the Ivory Tower for a positive end.

BLURB:

What does it really take to succeed in academia?

Do you want to go to graduate school? Then you’re in good company: nearly 80,000 students will begin pursuing a PhD this year alone. But while almost all of new PhD students say they want to work in academia, most are destined for disappointment. The hard truth is that half will quit or fail to get their degree, and most graduates will never find a full-time academic job. 

In Good Work If You Can Get It, Jason Brennan combines personal experience with the latest higher education research to help you understand what graduate school and the academy are really like. This candid, pull-no-punches book answers questions big and small, including

• Should I go to graduate school—and what will I do once I get there?
• How much does a PhD cost—and should I pay for one?
• What kinds of jobs are there after grad school, and who gets them? 
• What happens to the people who never get full-time professorships? 
• What does it take to be productive, to publish continually at a high level? 
• What does it take to teach many classes at once? 
• What does it take to succeed in graduate school? 
• How does “publish or perish” work? 
• How much do professors get paid?
• What do search committees look for, and what turns them off? 
• How do I know which journals and book publishers matter? 
• How do I balance work and life?

This realistic, data-driven look at university teaching and research will make your graduate and postgraduate experience a success. Good Work If You Can Get It is the guidebook anyone considering graduate school, already in grad school, starting as a new professor, or advising graduate students needs. Read it, and you will come away ready to hit the ground running.

REVIEWS:

“Jason Brennan’s book is clear, effective, and captures the process of academic faculty employment exceptionally well. While the lessons Brennan provides aspiring academic faculty may seem stark and unfair, what he says about how this system works is accurate. That is the primary virtue of the book: it tells its readers the way things work without losing its way into a discussion of how they should work. Many of us give variations on this unwelcome advice to our graduate students and colleagues, and now we can just tell them to go read Brennan’s book.”— John V. Lombardi, President Emeritus, University of Florida, author of How Universities Work

“In Good Work If You Can Get It, Jason Brennan tells it like it is. You will get the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. This is the one book to read about trying to become a professor.”— Tyler Cowen, George Mason University, author of Stubborn Attachments: A Vision for a Society of Free, Prosperous, and Responsible Individuals

“Each year, thousands of bright and ambitious students begin doctoral programs hoping they will earn PhDs and find rewarding positions at great colleges and universities. Good luck! Brennan offers the advice graduate students need but seldom receive.”— Benjamin Ginsberg, Johns Hopkins University, author of The Fall of the Faculty: The Rise of the All-Administrative University and Why It Matters

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction. Unpleasant Truths about the World’s Best Job
Chapter One. Do You Really Want an Academic Job?
Chapter Two. Success in Graduate School Means Working to Get a Job
Chapter Three. How to Be Productive and Happy
Chapter Four. The Academic Market and Tenure
Conclusion. Exit Options

INTERVIEW

IHE interviews me here.