Taxi Driver Wisdom: Amazon.ca: Risa Mickenberg: Books

Product Description

Review

If a man keeps telling you he loves you, over and over, then something is wrong.

If someone gets rich, I do not cheer for them. I weep for myself.

The things you love are as stupid as the things you hate and are easily interchangeable.

Don't look at what he is not. Look at what he is.

I see more of what is going on around me because I am not concerned with finding a parking place.

Product Description

Hail a taxi cab, open the door to a burst of easy-listening music, breathe in the poppy air freshener, lean over teh seat, and say hello to the next Jean-Paul Sartre or Kahlil Gibran. Taxi Driver Wisdom takes readers behind the Plexiglass curtain with pearls of wisdom from the most multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious group of philosophers ever assembled: New York City cab drivers. Atmospheric black-and-white photographs are paired with pithy quotes from downtown Descartes and freeway Foucaults. You may never want to take the bus again.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
Hey. An ashram costs $2,500 a week. Read the first page

Explore More
Concordance

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.5 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars the best coffee table book!, Aug 24 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Taxi Driver Wisdom (Hardcover)

well... I found this book about two or three years ago Since then, I can't find a better book to replace it from my collections. Normally books only stay on the table for one month or so, but this one actually stays there ever since I got a copy of it. Many great sentences in it!

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2.0 out of 5 stars Behind the Plexiglass, not much., Sep 15 2002

By

Robin Benson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Taxi Driver Wisdom (Hardcover)

If you stand at a bookshop cash register you will most likely see 'Taxi Driver Wisdom' along with 'The Tao of Elvis' or 'The Little Book of Belches' or 'You and the True Meaning of Crop Circles'. Publishers love these little volumes placed as they are near the register for casual purchase. Why anyone should think that taxi drivers have any great insight on life is beyond me, mostly average guys doing an average job. Like barbers they deal with a captive public so this book could just as easily be called 'Barber Shop Wisdom'.

I was expecting something much funnier and wry instead of the shallow observations that fill these pages. Another reviewer has referred to "lots of bumper sticker wisdom", quite right, once through the carwash and it's gone. All these taxi driver 'thoughts' are dressed up in a pretty sumptuous package though, thick black hardback covers and each spread has a black-and-white street scene photo on the left with a bright yellow page on the right for the type, all on glossy paper. The book comes with the ultimate pretension, a faux yellow silk bookmark, just in case the readers lose their place in the unnumbered pages.

I'll end this review with a thought from Jean De La Bruyere (1645-1696) 'The exact contrary of what is generally believed is often the truth'. Now that's what I call wisdom!

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5.0 out of 5 stars Check your mind, July 8 2002

By

gx - See all my reviews

This review is from: Taxi Driver Wisdom (Hardcover)

Taxi Driver Wisdom (TDW) is one of the most impressive books I've met through my nearly 40s. I've been traveling a lot, being European and having seen a piece of USA, my experience is - TDW through the eyes of mostly non-US reflects the present reality as if you'd examine it under a microscope. The great thing is - results of this examination in our times of globalization is applicable for US the same way as for the rest of the world. Take this: "TO PREPARE YOURSELF FOR MARRIAGE YOU MUST THINK - I AM GOING TO BURY THIS PERSON."
If you like this - you would like also "New York Vertical" by Horst Hamman - e.g.: "WE WILL PROBABLY BE JUDGED NOT BY THE MONUMENTS WE BUILD BUT BY THOSE WE HAVE DESTROYED." Have a nice day!-) Or at least - try2 ... :-)

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Caveat Emptor
Taxi Driver Wisdom in itself may be an oxymoron, however as a taxi driver myself, I found it to be funny and thought provoking, and lacking in some of the more baser universal... Read more

Published on Mar 23 2002 by omni18

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!
This is such a great book. We keep it on our coffee table and it is always picked up and commented on. Read more

Published on Aug 13 2001 by dldubois