Buzz Ride: Driven to Disruption: Memoirs of an Uber Driver

Buzz Ride was a quick read, which worked to its benefit. It was entertaining enough for its length. If it had been any longer, I think it would have lost half a star.

The reason was the author. The writing bordered on Gonzo journalism without the chops of Thompson and whereas Thompson actually did enough crazy stuff to question the prudence of messing with him, Pat White comes off as a bit of a fake tough guy. I think the stories were interesting, but wish they were more about the riders and less about the driver. Maybe it's just a voyeuristic nature, but it's less scripted in that way.

The positives: Pat White is a decent writer, the experiences he relays in the book were interesting, the length of the book matched with the level of show more excitement the writing generated.
The negatives: I didn't like the "Pat vs. Patrick" choice (Pat being his regular life name and Patrick being his driving persona - he refers to both in the third person frequently)...seemed too gimmicky. I also couldn't shake the feeling that he was just a privileged rich guy slumming it for kicks, which may have biased me about how he put forward some thoughts/interactions that was supposedly showing his open-mindedness but instead made him come across as someone that might not be a great person just below the surface. I really questioned how he "drove away playing X" - some song selection that reflected an experience that just happened. I just have doubts that between the moments of dropping a passenger off and pulling away, he was coming up with that song from his playlist... just too gimmicky. Repeatedly saying "no one's going to believe this s***" might work to convince people that the stories are true, but it's also a really basic way to remove doubts from people. "You're not going to believe this, but...." If he played an appropriate song right as he drove away once or even twice, I could have bought it. A dozen times? Not so much. The same goes for the "no one's going to believe this s***" My guess is that some people will... I have my doubts though. show less

For all that this is a short book, there's a lot to think about. The author writes well, and his so-weird-they-have-to-be-true stories are engaging. He's a little too impressed with his own cleverness, but at least you know you're reading about the real man. Overall, a nice little memoir.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Intrigued by the emergence of Uber and other rideshare apps, a middle aged business man with a family and a successful career decides to moonlight for Uber on the weekends to learn more about the phenomena. What he soon discovers is the dehumanizing aspects of the service industry. As the driver of a rideshare car, Patrick becomes essentially invisible. Though some fares will talk to him, others ignore him and have extremely intimate conversations within the confines of his backseat.

He sees crazy things, has unusual conversations, and meets tons of people far outside his social circle. And he discovers an alternate personality within himself. When he drives, he puts on a costume of sorts and finds himself thinking and acting in new show more ways. This book is a collection of stories and highlights of his three months working for Uber. The stories are predictable, though the author seems routinely amazed. Not sure what he thought it would be like? Anyway, it's pretty interesting, but ultimately fairly shallow. A quick read, but don't look for deep insights. show less

I enjoyed this read quite a bit. I lean toward the nosy side and loved reading about the things people do and say "in private"...kinda. I mean a car carries a certain privacy to it. What surprised me was how much this experiment changed Pat and how he looked at life. Also, the personality changes that this led to, he was more aggressive and less kind. Interesting. Do I think that this reflects the uber generation...not so much. When I was that age, there were plenty of people getting up to the same hijinks, they just had to call a cab or find another way home.

Buzz Ride turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Pat White shares some of his experiences from his short experiment as an Uber driver, offering snippets of strangers' lives as they unfold in the seats of his Mercedes. Ranging from the dramatic to the absurd, these brief encounters with random strangers led the author to some self-discovery and insights. Simply written and fast-paced; recommended.

P.M white give the reader a rollick through current Americana brought to you by the Uber generation. These young 20 and 30 somethings(with a smattering of Boomers thrown in treat us to a part of America that many would not believe exists. What starts as a research project by an academic drags the reader into a late night world of the cab driver, the seamier sordid world of the late light crowd in Chicago. As each day progresses you wonder what human story will unfold, as the author skillfully pulls you into his temporary world of the Uber driver he assumes as he conducts economic trends research. This world fascinates the reader exquisitely, and I found myself closing the book only to ask, "Is there more?". I was also saddened to find show more that I was never told the trends that this precious research disclosed. Sigh.. But a sign of a good book is when you read it on one sitting and are wanting more. Let this be a sign to you to read this book. show less

A very funny and very sad story about trying something totally different for research purposes. Filled with tales from the front seat looking back, it's about that second persona almost everybody that has worked in the service industry learns to adopt.