A review by squirrelfish
Uberland: How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Rules of Work by Alex Rosenblat

3.0

So, there's a lot of good information about how Uber works in here. I'd definitely recommend it for an Uber driver, but there's a lot of angst as well. Some of the points are good - how Uber lacks transparency and fails to look out for drivers, even when its super easy like putting in a timer, but also in harder situations like sexual harassment. Some points are a little bit more mixed, such as comparing the taxi industry to Uber/Lyft, with a lot of discussion that really fails to discuss why the taxis share of the market fell so easily. Some points I thought were a more common angst against tech. He discusses pay issues as if it's compared to a 40-hour/week job with benefits, and seems to blame tech/gig jobs for the problem, failing to see that those are increasingly unavailable and unattractive regardless of the state of the gig economy. I do gigs, but not Uber or Lyft specifically, so I was aware of some of the stuff, but this did give me more information. The interviews with Lyft drivers around North America were some of the better parts - letting you see how drivers are treated by the company and by the riders.

Audiobook read through the SF Public Library and the Libby app.