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Books : Hack: How I Stopped Worrying About What to Do with My Life and Started Driving a Yellow CabIn association with Amazon.comby: Melissa Plaut  List Price: $13.95 Amazon.com's Price: $11.16 You Save: $2.79 (20%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 920 EAN: 9780812977394 ISBN: 0812977394 Label: Villard Manufacturer: Villard Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 256 Publication Date: August 28, 2007 Publisher: Villard Release Date: June 24, 2008 Studio: Villard Sales Rank: 334929 Related Items:
Editorial Review: Product Description: “I had always thought about driving a cab, just thought it’d be interesting and different, a good way to make money. But it always seemed like a fleeting whim, a funny idea, something I would never actually do.” In her late twenties and after a series of unsatisfying office jobs, Melissa Plaut decided she was going to stop worrying about what to do with the rest of her life and focus on what she was going to do next. Her first adventure: becoming a taxi driver. Undeterred by the fact that 99 percent of cabbies in the city were men, she went to taxi school, got her hack license, and hit the streets of Manhattan and the outlying boroughs. Hack traces Plaut’s first two years behind the wheel of a yellow cab traveling the 6,400 miles of New York City streets. She shares the highs, the lows, the shortcuts, and professional trade secrets. Between figuring out where and when to take a bathroom break and trying to avoid run-ins with the NYPD, Plaut became an honorary member of a diverse brotherhood that included Harvey, the cross-dressing cabbie; the dispatcher affectionately called “Paul the crazy Romanian”; and Lenny, the garage owner rumored to be the real-life prototype for TV’s Louie De Palma of Taxi. With wicked wit and arresting insight, Melissa Plaut reveals the crazy parade of humanity that passed through her cab–including struggling actors, federal judges, bartenders, strippers, and drug dealers–while showing how this grueling work provided her with empowerment and a greater sense of self. Hack introduces an irresistible new voice that is much like New York itself–vivid, profane, lyrical, and ineffably hip Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Great example of "voice" in memoirMelissa's book & blog are down to earth and honest. Her "voice" comes through the book (and blog) so wonderfully. She is authentic. I would read whatever she wrote, even if it was about grocery shopping! I admire her work and her spirit very much. Rating: - A great read if you love new yorkThis is a pretty interesting look at the often mundane world of driving a New York cab. At times the language is pretty rudimentary, but that's fair considering I believe it's a first time author. A must read if you live in NYC, and a much better prep book for visitors excited to go there than any Frommers guide. Rating: - And People Wonder Why Most Cabbies are ForeignersIn this book, the author takes the reader on an interesting look at the world of driving a taxi cab in New York City. Having driven a cab myself back in the seventies in Boston, I know what she went through and just how tough the job really is. The author well describes the terrible drivers, the constant hustle, the tense interactions with the police and the lunatic customers that seem to be everywhere. The author describes the day to day tidbits of driving, interspersed with her own ... Read More Rating: - great, honest readI was reading Melissa's blog for a while before her book came out. The book alone is a good, fast read, chockful of great stories and insight. To further expand your experience from Melissa's viewpoint, read her blog as well. It adds an edge to the stories as a bonus not available with regular books not accompanied by blogs. I'm a native NYer and know the city well, and Melissa tells it like it is. I've also been wanting to drive a taxi for a few years but never had the guts to do it, until now thanks ... Read More Rating: - Bold and informative readingThis book is a great read if you enjoy an honest and frank insight into a unique personality as well as lots of inside revelations about the job of driving a cab in the big apple. Browse for similar items by category:
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