Best Scar Wins - by ML Cavanaugh (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Award-winning Army Strategist and top West Point professor ML (Matt) Cavanaugh shares the lessons from his 25-year military career that enabled him to turn pain to power, scars to strength, and become great by doing good.

Inspired by a near-death combat experience, Cavanaugh transformed himself from failure to fit with an act of radical generosity. He donated a kidney to a stranger, an act that also helped save the lives of seven others dying of kidney failure. Then, just months after surgery, Cavanaugh became the only living kidney donor and fastest American ever to run the toughest self-supported ultramarathon series in the world.

Best Scar Wins follows Cavanaugh as he uses the lessons he picked up from his military career to navigate the trials of the world's worst deserts across four continents--from scorpions to penguins--on a mission to save lives. The eleven lessons in this astonishing adventure story--including how to expand your "endurability"--illuminate a path that anyone can follow to become more than they were before.

In a call to live generously in support of others, Best Scar Wins shows you how to embrace your scars as triumphs--not as experiences that hold you back but as lessons that define how you move forward.

Review Quotes

"An epic tale of discovery, determination, and heroism. Best Scar Wins is a raw and revealing story that obliterates preconceived notions of what is and isn't possible. Lt. Col. Cavanaugh takes on an unforgettable journey, one that leaves us awed and uplifted and forever restores our belief in the magnificence of the human spirit."
--Dean Karnazes, New York Times bestselling author of Ultramarathon Man

"Best Scar Wins is a fun-to-read, fast-paced adventure you won't want to put down. Most importantly, it shows that running can save lives."

--Dave McGillivray, Race Director, the Boston Marathon, and Founder and President, DMSE Sports, Inc.

"Matt's leadership and his amazing story in this book set a high bar for the rest of us, but his message is universal: You can rise to most any challenge if you approach life with a mix of humility, gratitude, and steely determination. He leads by example, and the results are astonishing."

--Ned Brooks, Founder, National Kidney Donation Organization

"Matt didn't have to give his kidney. He chose to. Then he chose to do something even harder. This story is what selflessness and grit look like--rewriting what one human can do. I was there. I saw it. You need to read it."

--John Bezou, Head Run Coach, Hypoxia Performance, and RacingthePlanet Grand Slam Plus Finisher

"In Best Scar Wins, Matt Cavanaugh brilliantly lends a novelist's voice to his hard-won lessons from a life of military service and elite endurance racing."

--August Cole, Coauthor, Ghost Fleet

"This is a necessary read for any human being embarking upon being better, more generous, and more filled with gratitude for the lives we get to live, and the challenges we get to face."

--Mirna Valerio, Author, A Beautiful Work in Progress

About the Author

ML (Matt) Cavanaugh, PhD, is a retired US Army lieutenant colonel who earned two Bronze Star Medals for his time overseas. He's also an award-winning US Army strategist, having earned acclaim as the top professor at West Point and was previously named the US Army's Athlete of the Year. As a proud living kidney donor, he most recently served as the president and CEO of the National Kidney Donation Organization. His writing has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Colorado Springs Gazette, and Sydney Morning Herald. Cavanaugh makes his home in the mountains of Manitou Springs, Colorado.