Diary of a Taxi Driver

by Cai Mingjie, PhD

After losing his research career, an educated Singaporean takes the wheel of a taxi. These are his true stories of the passengers, characters and surprises he met on the road.

Straits Times bestseller for 12+ weeks

Straits Times Bestseller for over 12 weeks

Finalist for Popular Reader’s Choice Awards 2011

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Cover of Diary of a Taxi Driver

Overview

About the book.

When Dr. Cai Mingjie, a lifelong scientist and university professor, lost his job at a leading research institute in Singapore, his world collapsed around him. Despite having published numerous papers and a Stanford PhD, he could not find a suitable job.

Disheartened by the global financial crisis, he became a taxi driver, the Singaporean job of last resort. While driving a cab he jotted down notes about his experiences and posted them on his blog, quickly becoming an internet celebrity with close to one million hits so far. This book includes edited posts from his blog plus exclusive new material.

Experience the real Singapore and join Dr. Cai as he recounts true stories about naïve prostitutes and lecherous johns, abusive customers and kind strangers, violent drivers and heart-wrenching encounters.

The details

Format
PDF e-book
Pages
194
Delivery
Emailed at once
Language
English
Publisher
Aktive Learning

After payment we email your PDF, ready to download at once.

The authors

Who wrote it.

Dr. Cai Mingjie was born in China, obtained his PhD from Stanford University, and became a Singaporean when he moved to Singapore to work as a researcher for a leading research institute in Singapore. He was unemployed from May 2008 and became a taxi driver in Singapore in February 2009. His blog has close to one million hits so far with over fifty thousand visitors a month, and was nominated for the Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards.

His story has been featured in the following newspapers: The Straits Times, Lianhe Zaobao (front page), Omy.sg, The Star (Malaysia) and many others.

Reviews and accolades

What readers say.

  • This book is not just the story of what it is like to be a taxi driver: It offers snapshots of a Singapore literally on the move, of a restless and dissatisfied population, of people rushing to be somewhere else.

    The Straits Times, rated 4.5/5 Stars

  • As a hedge fund manager in the Asia Pacific region but based in Hong Kong, I have frequent stopovers at the Singapore Changi Airport. I spotted this book and find it an amazing read. The hidden message of this book is quite simple: Don’t Give Up! Good job, Dr. Cai!

    Jarjar

  • Although Dr Cai lost his job as a professor, he gained great life wisdom when he became a taxi driver. In this book, he shares these wisdom through real life stories.

    Tommy S.W. Wong

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