In Five Star Rides: #Uberprotips and Rideshare from A-Z by Nate Livesay, a former school teacher who never considered the idea of using an app for work gives Uber and Lyft driving a shot. AI and algorithms play a huge part in the ride-share market. Each ride is affected by the mood and mindset of the driver and the customer. Being a ride-share driver takes a lot of tolerance and patience. Not all riders are kind, understanding, or patient. There are even some who will attempt to get drivers to allow illegal behaviors or bring alcohol into the car with them. There are a lot of pros and cons to driving other people to their destinations. Most drivers don’t last very long, but ride-sharing can be beneficial as a side hustle for those who have the patience and the time to make it work.

Five Star Rides is an enlightening book that gives a wide scope of valuable information about the strategy and the ethics involved in working as a ride-share driver. I genuinely enjoyed reading about some of the people the author met and the events that made his day good or bad. I learned a lot of things that I didn’t know about this particular side hustle from the personal experiences the author shared. I love how Nate Livesay explains the pros and cons of ride-share in a way that is fun and interesting. I recommend Five Star Rides to anyone who is considering working for Uber, Lyft, or any other side hustle and would like to have a better understanding of what to expect.

Five Star Rides: #Uberprotips and Rideshare from A-Z by Nate Livesay is a humorous expose that offers readers a chance to understand what it is like to work behind the scenes as a driver for a rideshare app. Like many, Livesay was looking for a ‘side hustle’ or a way to make extra money outside his daytime job. He first began driving for Uber, which at the time was a relatively new app on the market. However, what initially seems to be a simple job of picking up passengers from various locations is soon revealed to be far more complex and unpredictable. The author experiences many challenges, such as passengers failing to be ready for pick-up, asking him to wait longer than permitted or to take additional passengers, being rude or disorderly, and arriving at his vehicle in various states of inebriation, among many others.

Nate Livesay is a skillful storyteller who provides critical information about how apps and social media use our details to increase their sales and influence the app’s algorithm. He also explains how apps such as Uber are unfavorable toward drivers, as they incentivize them to accept every ride or risk being logged out or penalized in other ways. The book’s main selling point is its insightfulness, as most people have used a ridesharing app at least once (even if it is only for a trip to the airport). However, they may not necessarily be aware of what the stakes are like for the drivers. Five Star Rides: #Uberprotips and Rideshare from A-Z is a great read, especially if you are considering working for a rideshare app. It provides the key challenges and rewards of entering this fast-paced world using entertaining real-life anecdotes.