My Taxi Ride
Author: Paul DuBois Jacobs
Publisher: Gibbs Smith
Published: 2006
Total Pages: 32
ISBN-13: 1423600738
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIllustrations and rhythmic text describe the sights and sounds of a taxi ride in New York City.
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Taxi
Author: Joseph Rodriguez
Publisher: powerHouse Books
Published: 2020-12-22
Total Pages: 132
ISBN-13: 9781576879313
DOWNLOAD EBOOKNew York City in the late '70s was a collection of villages with its downtown scene, midtown workers, and uptown elegance. It was also a city that was more integrated than ever before or ever would be again. All of the city's humanity met in its streets with layered soundtracks of salsa, rock, disco, reggae, and soon hip-hop booming for all to groove to. But, NYC was also a place of chaos and mayhem. Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy with rampant crime it was the city's drug users, dealers, and pimps and prostitutes who ruled the streets of Manhattan. The grittiness of the city was a beacon and a promise to many outsiders, those who didn't quite fit into any mold, and a vibrant LGBTQ community became the nexus of an underworld of sex workers who liked to party. For a NYC cabbie such as Joseph Rodriguez, the hot spots to pick up fares were clubs like the Hellfire, Mineshaft, The Anvil, The Vault, and Show World. Losing his first camera and lens in a classic '70s New York stabbing and mugging, Rodriguez's wounds healed and he armed himself with a new camera to document what he saw on the job: hookers getting off their shifts, transvestites and S&M partiers doin' it in the back seat or somehow pulling off an unlikely costume change from bondage gear to emerge from the cab clean-cut in an oxford and khakis ready to face unwitting family and friends. A humanist at heart, his photographs speak of the dignity of the city's working class from all the boroughs and those struggling to get by. The Economic Hardship Reporting Project provided funding to support Taxi: Journey Through My Windows 1977–1987.
God Explained in a Taxi Ride
Author: Paul Arden
Publisher: Perigee Books
Published: 2009
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9780399535086
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAdvertising and design legend Paul Arden takes an exciting, visually creative, and thoroughly digestible approach to a subject of enormous proven interest and relevance. Using a series of poignant, contemporary vignettes, God Explained in a Taxi Rideanalyzes and explores the questions that have persisted since mankind’s earliest days. This brilliant little gem of a book compels readers to scratch their heads as it examines man’s relationship to the divine—all within the length of a taxi ride.
Today in the Taxi
Author: Sean Singer
Publisher: Tupelo Press
Published: 2022-12-28
Total Pages: 75
ISBN-13: 1946482854
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFrom the passenger seat of Sean Singer’s taxicab, we witness New York’s streets livid and languid with story and contemplation that give us awareness and aliveness with each trip across the asphalt and pavement. Laced within each fare is an illumination of humanity’s intimate music, of the poet’s inner journey—a signaling at each crossroad of our frailty and effervescence. This is a guidebook toward a soundscape of higher meaning, with the gridded Manhattan streets as a scoring field. Jump in the back and dig the silence between the notes that count the most in each unique moment this poet brings to the page. “Sean Singer’s radiant and challenging body of work involves, much like Whitman’s, nothing less than the ongoing interrogation of what a poem is. In this way his books are startlingly alive... I love in this work the sense that I am the grateful recipient of Singer’s jazzy curation as I move from page to page. Today in the Taxi is threaded through with quotes from Kafka, facts about jazz musicians, musings from various thinkers, from a Cathar fragment to Martin Buber to Arthur Eddington to an anonymous comedian. The taxi is at once a real taxi and the microcosm of a world—at times the speaker seems almost like Charon ferrying his passengers, as the nameless from all walks and stages of life step in and out his taxi. I am reminded of Calvino’s Invisible Cities, of Sebald’s The Rings of Saturn... Today in the Taxi is intricate, plain, suggestive, deeply respectful of the reader, and utterly absorbing. Like Honey and Smoke before it, which was one of the best poetry books of the last decade, this is work of the highest order.” —Laurie Sheck
The Caretaker
Author: A. X. Ahmad
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: 2013-05-21
Total Pages: 302
ISBN-13: 1250016835
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWho is the caretaker hiding in the shadows of the Martha's Vineyard mansions he tends? Back in India, Ranjit Singh commanded an elite army squad. But that was years ago, before his Army career ended in dishonor, shattering his reputation. Driven from his homeland, he is now a caretaker on the exclusive resort island of Martha's Vineyard, looking after the vacation homes of the rich and powerful. One harsh winter, faced with no other choice, he secretly moves his family into the house of one of his clients, an African-American Senator. Here, his wife and daughter are happy, and he feels safe for the first time in ages. But Ranjit's idyll is shattered when mysterious men break into the house. Pursued and hunted, Ranjit is forced to enter the Senator's shadowy world, and his only ally is Anna, the Senator's beautiful wife, who has secrets of her own. Together, they uncover a trail of deception that leads from the calm shores of the Vineyard to countries half a world away. And when his investigation stirs up long forgotten events, the caretaker must finally face the one careless decision that ruined his life- and forced him to leave India. A gripping tale of hidden histories, political intrigue and dangerous attractions, A. X. Ahmad's The Caretaker introduces a new hero for our times: an immigrant caught between two worlds and a man caught between two loves.
The Last Taxi Ride
Author: A. X. Ahmad
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: 2014-06-24
Total Pages: 368
ISBN-13: 1250016851
DOWNLOAD EBOOKNew York City taxi driver Ranjit Singh, hero of A.X. Ahmad's heralded debut The Caretaker, has 10 days to prove his innocence... Bollywood film icon Shabana Shah has been murdered, her body found in the apartment where Ranjit ate dinner mere hours before. Ranjit's fingerprints are all over the murder weapon, a statue of the elephant god Ganesh used to grotesquely smash the actress' beautiful face. Caught on film leaving the apartment alone, Ranjit is accused by the NYPD as an accessory to murder. Ranjit's only credible alibi is Shabana's Indian doorman, but he has vanished. With a Grand Jury arraignment looming in 10 days, and Ranjit's teenage daughter about to arrive from India, he must find the doorman. His search through the underbelly of New York leads to the world of high-end nightclub owners, back-alley Mumbai gangsters and to Jay Patel, a shady businessman who imports human hair. As his investigation for the true killer reveals layers of Shabana Shah's hidden past, Ranjit does not know whom to trust. He can rely only on his army training, his taxi-driver knowledge of New York, and his cabbie friends. With time quickly running out, can Ranjit clear his name before his fare is up? The Last Taxi Ride is the second novel in the Ranjit Singh trilogy.
Dharma Road
Author: Brian Haycock
Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing
Published: 2010-11-01
Total Pages: 258
ISBN-13: 1612830013
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis memoir and spiritual guide from an Austin, Texas cab driver is “the real deal: good taxi and straight dharma” (Jack Kornfield, bestselling author of The Wise Heart). Brian Haycock was a cabdriver—who happened to be a Buddhist. During the course of his career, he learned that each fare provided an opportunity to learn the life lessons of the Buddha. So, hop in and buckle up; we’re off on our journey to self-discovery, passing through the precepts, the four noble truths, taking a hard left to stop and get coffee—where we’ll learn a few breathing techniques to bolster our patience—all the while watching for ambulances and bikers, focusing our attention and awareness so that we can arrive at our destination in good time and in one piece. Here are stories from everyday life that demonstrate how we can all benefit from a little Buddhist philosophy. With each chapter focusing on a specific topic, readers will learn to coast their way to building a life routine, focusing the mind, calming themselves with breathing exercises, and much more. “Engagingly written.” —Stephen Batchelor, national bestselling author of Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist “Compassionate and entertaining.” —David Brazier (aka Dharmavidya), author of The Feeling Buddha “Amusing and wise.” —Arthur Jeon, author of City Dharma and Sex, Love, and Dharma: Finding Love Without Losing Your Way “Wise and witty and direct: very Zen. Also, fun to read.” —Sylvia Boorstein, national bestselling author of Happiness is an Inside Job and That’s Funny, You Don’t Look Buddhist
Taxi Cab Stories
Author: John Egan
Publisher:
Published: 2018-12-22
Total Pages: 125
ISBN-13: 9781792054600
DOWNLOAD EBOOKInfused with John's unique sense of wry humor, these stories take the reader along on a ride through John's experiences as a cab driver in Brockton, Mass during the late 1970s. The stories are a mixture of the hilarious, odd, insightful, and sorrowful; introducing the reader to such characters as Black Laurel and Hardy, Captain Quaalude, and Mr. Magoo.This is how one cab ride ended as John pulled up to an ER..."An orderly, hearing the tires give up their remaining tread in an anguished squeal, ran out expecting a near death emergency arrival. I jammed my driver seat forward and ran over to open Mom's door. She got out calmly, I was anticipating a warm "thanks."She got hold of her purse. I figured to get the fare and a great tip. Instead, she starts beating me with it! Hard! I am 6′4″ and she was able to hit me squarely on top of my head. She was going to nail me into the ground like a human spike!She said, "I told you to get me to the hospital quickly, not to put me in it!" (as she rained beats down on me with her purse) Little Guy (her son) was hopping up and down saying "Can we do that again!?! That was unbelievable!" which made Mom angrier.The orderly skidded to a stop, wondering if I was the bad guy, Mom was a maniac, or this might be some personal matter between two consenting adults, especially one (Mom) that weighed about 4 times what he did. He said nothing, did not come an inch closer. He seemed frozen in fear, a desire for personal safety, and a crushing curiosity to see how it played out."This is how another cab ride ended after two guys considered robbing John..."I got them to their destination in one piece. The fare was just under $10, blond threw me a twenty and said, "Keep it," as they fell over themselves in their hurry to get out. I didn't even thank them for the tip, just acted as if I expected it. Like it was payment for the 'joy ride.'The last thing the black-haired guy said as the scrambled out. "I never met someone as nuts as you, man. Never!"Blond goes, "You're not safe, man. You're nuts. You shouldn't be f**kin' driving!"I looked at them with a bored, 'do this all the time' look and shrugged....I radioed for Gary to get the cops. I gave the address, a description, and said the cops should be careful as at least one was armed."Join John for other fares as he drives from experience to experience, wending his way through an incredible world of stories from his cab driving days.
Taxi from Another Planet
Author: Charles S. Cockell
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 2022-08-30
Total Pages: 305
ISBN-13: 0674279948
DOWNLOAD EBOOKInsightful, good-humored essays on the possibilities of alien life and the uses of space exploration, based on an astrobiologist’s everyday conversations with his fellow humans—taxi drivers, to be precise. If you’ve ever sat in the back seat of a taxi, you know that cabbies like to talk. Sports or politics, your job or theirs, taxi drivers are fine conversationalists on just about any topic. And when the passenger is astrobiologist Charles Cockell, that topic is usually space and what, if anything, lives out there. Inspired by conversations with drivers all over the world, Taxi from Another Planet tackles the questions that everyday people have about the cosmos and our place in it. Will we understand aliens? What if there isn’t life out in the universe? Is Mars our Plan B? And why is the government spending tax dollars on space programs anyway? Each essay in this genial collection takes questions like these as a starting point on the way to a range of insightful, even poignant, observations. Cockell delves into debates over the inevitability of life and looks to both human history and scientific knowledge to consider what first contact will be like and what we can expect from spacefaring societies. He also offers a forceful argument for the sympathies between space exploration and environmentalism. A shrewd and entertaining foray into the most fundamental mysteries, Taxi from Another Planet brings together the wisdom of scientific experts and their fellow citizens of Earth, the better to understand how life might unfold elsewhere.
Taxi Confidential
Author: Amy Braunschweiger
Publisher: 671 Press
Published: 2009-09
Total Pages: 242
ISBN-13: 0982173326
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAn outrageous encounter in a cab is a rite of passage in New York City. Trap two or more strangers in a careening yellow sedan and add an unexpected variable-say, a well-armed transvestite hooker, the urgent need for a restroom, or a stabbing victim-and the story that emerges is sure to be worth telling. In Taxi Confidential, cabbies ranging from a lead-footed pothead to a philosophizing immigrant sage grapple with what chance tosses their way. Author Amy Braunschweiger uncovers the best taxi stories from the 1970s through present day, and takes the reader on a 100-mile-per-hour ride through Gotham's darkest alleys, roughest neighborhoods, and hidden sweet spots.
