Hack: How I Stopped Worrying About What to Do with My Life and Started Driving a Yellow Cab | 
 enlarge | Author: Melissa Plaut
Publisher: Villard
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $7.56
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Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 397894
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.1 x 0.6
ISBN: 0812977394
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9780812977394
ASIN: 0812977394
Publication Date: August 28, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW
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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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Great example of "voice" in memoir August 2, 2008
Melissa'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.
A great read if you love new york July 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This 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.
And People Wonder Why Most Cabbies are Foreigners March 1, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
In 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 personal demons about the job. It is really one of those jobs you can love and hate at the same time. The only reason many drivers stay is because you can make good money doing it if you don't burn out first. I know it helped pay my way through college, which no minimum wage job could do.
I would recommend this book to everyone, but in particular to those who use cabs often. Read what a driver feels and then examine your behavior while you are in the back seat. It may open your eyes a little.
great, honest read December 7, 2007
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
I 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 to Melissa (final test is today). What fun! Melissa's experiences are honest and real. Way to go!
Bold and informative reading November 26, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
This 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.
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