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A Trucker’s Tale: Wit, Wisdom, and True Stories from 60 Years on the Road
Driving one highway after another at sunrise, winding through the mountainside, hearing the call to rise of the roosters, or simply exchanging “fishing stories” with the other guys at the truck stops. Like that one about the trucker who stopped along the highway and helped a little old lady who had a flat tire. By the time the trucker had told his tale a dozen times, the simple tire change story turned into one where an old lady was accompanied by her gorgeous, blond, and twenty-one-year-old granddaughter—you know how that ends. Imagine the story traded from one driver to the next. Each time, a more outrageous yarn is spun.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published April 14, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
August 25, 2021
This was the first dnf of 2021. I kept meaning to pick it up to finish but I really don't need to read about what a totally misogynist, patriarchal character with a major superiority complex thinks is 'wit' or 'wisdom'. If you piss women readers off in the first few pages, you can hardly claim 'wisdom'.
He thinks he's a better driver than anyone else because 'Truckers are the backbone of America, they are the professional drivers, the road is their workplace". Ironically, I heard a very similar thought from a black cab driver in London which didn't impress me either. the author says he's sorry for the kids stuck in the back of the fashionable four-wheel drive vehicles driven by mothers who can't drive properly. The author feels very strongly about these terrible mothers who are terrible drivers so he repeats that though several times.
The only women he has any 'admiration' for are "gorgeous, blond, and twenty-one-years-old". But he does like the company of men, he can chat to them at truck stops about real stuff, or make up stories, either way it's all good. Anyway by then I'd had enough. Trucker culture is putting down other drivers, putting down women who aren't very young busty blondes, discussing fishing or making up tall tales with other truckers and I know we will get round to his exploits in the Navy at some point.
I have a friend whose real first name is Cheyenne . She dresses like Betty Boop, her idol, has an online gun shop, lives with her father in the winter and looks after very severely mentally disabled people. In the summer she drives a great big semi cross country. I wonder what the author would have made of her?
I didn't enjoy the book. It gets 2 stars because 1 star is reserved for despicable books, and this was just one I didn't enjoy.
He thinks he's a better driver than anyone else because 'Truckers are the backbone of America, they are the professional drivers, the road is their workplace". Ironically, I heard a very similar thought from a black cab driver in London which didn't impress me either. the author says he's sorry for the kids stuck in the back of the fashionable four-wheel drive vehicles driven by mothers who can't drive properly. The author feels very strongly about these terrible mothers who are terrible drivers so he repeats that though several times.
The only women he has any 'admiration' for are "gorgeous, blond, and twenty-one-years-old". But he does like the company of men, he can chat to them at truck stops about real stuff, or make up stories, either way it's all good. Anyway by then I'd had enough. Trucker culture is putting down other drivers, putting down women who aren't very young busty blondes, discussing fishing or making up tall tales with other truckers and I know we will get round to his exploits in the Navy at some point.
I have a friend whose real first name is Cheyenne . She dresses like Betty Boop, her idol, has an online gun shop, lives with her father in the winter and looks after very severely mentally disabled people. In the summer she drives a great big semi cross country. I wonder what the author would have made of her?
I didn't enjoy the book. It gets 2 stars because 1 star is reserved for despicable books, and this was just one I didn't enjoy.
January 15, 2025
I read this book because of my curiosity about the life of truckers and what they do on a daily basis and since highlights about things they may have encountered. Although some of these aspects were in the book. I’ve found the majority of focused on the road as the author knew it and how things used to be different when he was younger than they are now.
Rather than being taught some other information and some trucker lingo, the readers expected to understand the inside, slang in said spent pages explaining in detail common used tools, such as grease guns.
I feel there was just as much time it spent talking about the beer drink in Vietnam as there was talk about the actual trucker experience itself. Rather than getting of the experience, the truckers go through on the road, I got more of it inside about what Martin easy drink as a manager and what kind of steaks other companies managers ordered, and complains about how four wheelers (regular people on the road, at least I assume he never actually elaborate on that one either, but it seems pretty self-explanatory)
At the end of this book, I felt like can I get the inside cube with the experience that I was interested in learning about. And rather heard the authors opinion about how things were in the 60s and how drum job was more suitable back than the now, in regardless of the year, he thinks a person is more likely get help for a trucker if they’re a woman in a short skirt or a low-cut shirt.
I am still interested in learning more about the truck experience, but unfortunately I did not find this book did what it promised to do.
Rather than being taught some other information and some trucker lingo, the readers expected to understand the inside, slang in said spent pages explaining in detail common used tools, such as grease guns.
I feel there was just as much time it spent talking about the beer drink in Vietnam as there was talk about the actual trucker experience itself. Rather than getting of the experience, the truckers go through on the road, I got more of it inside about what Martin easy drink as a manager and what kind of steaks other companies managers ordered, and complains about how four wheelers (regular people on the road, at least I assume he never actually elaborate on that one either, but it seems pretty self-explanatory)
At the end of this book, I felt like can I get the inside cube with the experience that I was interested in learning about. And rather heard the authors opinion about how things were in the 60s and how drum job was more suitable back than the now, in regardless of the year, he thinks a person is more likely get help for a trucker if they’re a woman in a short skirt or a low-cut shirt.
I am still interested in learning more about the truck experience, but unfortunately I did not find this book did what it promised to do.
August 4, 2021
A episodic read, not gripping but interesting as a look at the life of truck drivers. The most gripping part is the story of his war in Vietnam, hauling freight as a Navy Seabee. Three and a half stars.
March 21, 2023
This is the second trucking book I've attempted. One is enough and that one would be Long Haul which was more interestingly introspective.
July 31, 2020
This was a fascinating, insider look at trucker culture and who the guys who ship our goods are. If you've ever looked into the truck next to you, especially if you're on the road in the early morning, and wondered who the guy behind the wheel was, you'll appreciate this. It's rough, gritty, and hilarious. The part about trucking in Vietnam is eye-opening. This is a different kind of book, and an all around good read.
October 7, 2020
The better of the two truck driving memoirs I've read. The first quarter of the book made me appreciate the advances in automotive technology, as the author and his brothers have to do everything short of voodoo to keep their grandfather's trucks running and engines turning over in the cold of western NC. Who knew the base of a 55-gallon barrel would be good to host a small flame capable of heating a truck's oil pan from underneath?
The book peaked in its second quarter, with a 4-star chapter on driving trucks up a mountain with a scenic view near Da Nang. Interesting to read about the kids stealing beer off a truck and then selling it back to GIs (cold at least), as well as how pilfered leftovers and giant poles were re-purposed.
Second half of the book - driving trucks in college and then management positions in Baltimore and Pittsburgh, were not quite as interesting, but overall this was a good read, and added something new for me on literature about the Vietnam War.
The book peaked in its second quarter, with a 4-star chapter on driving trucks up a mountain with a scenic view near Da Nang. Interesting to read about the kids stealing beer off a truck and then selling it back to GIs (cold at least), as well as how pilfered leftovers and giant poles were re-purposed.
Second half of the book - driving trucks in college and then management positions in Baltimore and Pittsburgh, were not quite as interesting, but overall this was a good read, and added something new for me on literature about the Vietnam War.
May 2, 2023
This is another one of those freebie Audible audiobooks that turned out to be better than I expected. Admittedly, Miller is of an age and a generation (okay boomer) that has a tendency to use worn out cliches, employ sexist language, and assume that age always brings wisdom. I would guess he is a Republican. He doesn't like trucking unions, although he maintains that he has plenty of good friends who are in unions. He includes several examples of encounters with union folks who were intimidating and resorted to criminal behavior, but he tells stories throughout the book of other truckers whose bad behavior had nothing to do with union membership - fair enough. He also seems to hold progressive opinions about the environment when it comes to emissions, recycling, and other challenges faced by the industry.
Miller never shies away from profanity. But true to its subtitle, this book is full of wit and some hilarious characters. Some readers may accuse the author of stretching the truth, but I thought he was mighty convincing. The book is also loaded with insights into an industry that most people are fully aware of but know little about. From trials and tribulations dealing with heavy and dangerous equipment to all the logistics involved in a trucker's job of getting products from one place to another across the country, Miller's book was an eye-opener for me.
I did find a major point of contradiction that is worth mentioning. Miller uses the introduction of his book to stress that truckers are professional drivers. They are the only ones on the road who truly drive for a living (not true, of course - just ask taxi and Uber drivers), and the rest of us are just amateurs. He brags about how responsible truckers are, how they put safety first, how they follow the rules of the road, yada, yada, yada. But then he spends the first few chapters, and many other parts of the book, introducing the reader to a whole host of characters who prove him wrong - some real lowlifes of the industry he has met over the decades who drink and drive, are careless on the highways, have no respect for "four-wheelers" (the rest of us in passenger vehicles), and just all-around asses. He even devotes part of his closing remarks to admonishing truckers for being disrespectful and careless drivers, but it is clear that he believes this behavior is a recent phenomenon.
Miller's time serving as a truck driver in the military in Vietnam obviously left a serious mark on his psyche, so he devotes a whole section of the book to this time in his life. Much of this part of his memoir has little to do with trucking, but I found it interesting just the same. I must admit, there have been many times when I was driving on I-44 through Missouri, a section of interstate that is thick with eighteen wheelers, that I lost patience with truckers. My strongest pet peeve is the trucker who will pull out to pass another trucker who is traveling only slightly slower, and then it takes several miles to complete the pass and get back in the right lane while traffic backs up behind. After reading this book, I will try to be more patient.
Miller never shies away from profanity. But true to its subtitle, this book is full of wit and some hilarious characters. Some readers may accuse the author of stretching the truth, but I thought he was mighty convincing. The book is also loaded with insights into an industry that most people are fully aware of but know little about. From trials and tribulations dealing with heavy and dangerous equipment to all the logistics involved in a trucker's job of getting products from one place to another across the country, Miller's book was an eye-opener for me.
I did find a major point of contradiction that is worth mentioning. Miller uses the introduction of his book to stress that truckers are professional drivers. They are the only ones on the road who truly drive for a living (not true, of course - just ask taxi and Uber drivers), and the rest of us are just amateurs. He brags about how responsible truckers are, how they put safety first, how they follow the rules of the road, yada, yada, yada. But then he spends the first few chapters, and many other parts of the book, introducing the reader to a whole host of characters who prove him wrong - some real lowlifes of the industry he has met over the decades who drink and drive, are careless on the highways, have no respect for "four-wheelers" (the rest of us in passenger vehicles), and just all-around asses. He even devotes part of his closing remarks to admonishing truckers for being disrespectful and careless drivers, but it is clear that he believes this behavior is a recent phenomenon.
Miller's time serving as a truck driver in the military in Vietnam obviously left a serious mark on his psyche, so he devotes a whole section of the book to this time in his life. Much of this part of his memoir has little to do with trucking, but I found it interesting just the same. I must admit, there have been many times when I was driving on I-44 through Missouri, a section of interstate that is thick with eighteen wheelers, that I lost patience with truckers. My strongest pet peeve is the trucker who will pull out to pass another trucker who is traveling only slightly slower, and then it takes several miles to complete the pass and get back in the right lane while traffic backs up behind. After reading this book, I will try to be more patient.
March 16, 2023
A Trucker’s Tale: Wit, Wisdom, and True Stories from 60 Years on the Road by Ed Miller is a pure joy to read. It is his story from his time in teh trucking business and it is plain fun. Written in an easy to read style, this is not high art or prose and thank our lucky stars. This is not a college professor, but a favorite uncle sitting around the dinner table telling his tale. From growing up in the industry, through his time in Vietnam to his life in the behind the wheel. Ed Miller opines on the state of the industry, his views on other drivers and life in general. This is not a book for the politically correct, his views can be antiquated, but he also has a great heart and he tells his tales with a twinkle in his eye. Just like your uncle that has odd views, but you love anyway.
The memoir is quite a feat because the stories are true, but read like the good fishing story about the one that got away. Quite an entertaining read and so worth the time.
The memoir is quite a feat because the stories are true, but read like the good fishing story about the one that got away. Quite an entertaining read and so worth the time.
July 27, 2020
As your average working-class American woman here, I don’t put much thought into a truck driver, or the haul they’re carrying across state lines. But after diving into the book, “A Trucker's Tale,” I am quite intrigued! I don’t know anyone that IS a truck driver.
However, Ed Miller put me right up in that truck cab with him for adventures all over the states and Vietnam! His story is nothing short of incredible and an eye-opener into the life and times of truck drivers the world over! If you’re looking for entertainment, honesty, clarity, and a bit of judgment, look no further than this book!
Ed’s upbringing will entertain you with his dad and Grandpa’s stories, and farm living back in the day. He chose not to pursue college and instead became a long-haul trucker to deliver goods to companies around the states. His story is a fascinating one, and if you’ve ever wondered about what goes through a truck driver’s mind, this is the book to pick up!
However, Ed Miller put me right up in that truck cab with him for adventures all over the states and Vietnam! His story is nothing short of incredible and an eye-opener into the life and times of truck drivers the world over! If you’re looking for entertainment, honesty, clarity, and a bit of judgment, look no further than this book!
Ed’s upbringing will entertain you with his dad and Grandpa’s stories, and farm living back in the day. He chose not to pursue college and instead became a long-haul trucker to deliver goods to companies around the states. His story is a fascinating one, and if you’ve ever wondered about what goes through a truck driver’s mind, this is the book to pick up!
December 24, 2021
A really good book about the trucking industry before all the regulations and electronic logs. I drive a truck as well and for me it was very interesting and insightful to read about how the job was done only 30 years ago. The industry has completely changed the way it is run. I now understand what the older truckers mean when they talk about driving "back in the day."
July 31, 2020
Terrific stories that encompasses a life well lived...on the road behind the wheels of trucks, large and small. Fascinating to see how life has changed so dramatically from this
very specific viewpoint.
very specific viewpoint.
September 27, 2020
Sometimes a story doesn't have to be perfect to be good. This is one of those times. A true life story of one man's initiation into a career of driving a truck, the people he has met, incidents on the road and a small detour of his experiences in Vietnam which in itself is revealing.
February 11, 2021
One would have to be a trucker or a truck lover to want to read this book. It has many trucking tales from days gone by and a nice look at trucking in Viet Nam during our incursion there. A nice relaxing book to stir up your past driving g remembrances.
July 13, 2023
Not a well written book, part biography, part rant, a couple funny anecdotes - but it was all new to me so kept me interested enough to finish. Very little about driving, appears the author moved to management very quickly.
November 11, 2024
Recollections of an all-American trucker.
The book is Miller's autobiography, so large parts are about thing other than trucking, all though trucking has always been a part of his life.
At times rambling and never too exciting, perhaps considered cozy listening.
The book is Miller's autobiography, so large parts are about thing other than trucking, all though trucking has always been a part of his life.
At times rambling and never too exciting, perhaps considered cozy listening.
May 12, 2020
Lots of good history about trucking - especially in second half of twentieth century. Grew up with Ed and really enjoyed portions of his early preparation for a life in trucking!
June 5, 2023
This book is fine. I was expecting more but had a few infesting stories. I think it’s worth the time cause it’s not too long and the narrative is quite good.
July 28, 2023
Audiobook - read for work - got really technical and some stories were meh but some were funny
April 4, 2024
Kinda interesting
September 24, 2025
Exactly what it says on the tin, a collection of stories by American trucker Ed Miller about his life in the trucking business.
This starts slow for me, with him as a child learning about vehicles, which was almost DNF-level boring. I do not care about how a truck works. But if you can power through the first couple of chapters it gets into the meat of the book which is anecdotes of trucking life, including his time in the Vietnam War.
Interesting, nothing too deep but mildly entertaining.
This starts slow for me, with him as a child learning about vehicles, which was almost DNF-level boring. I do not care about how a truck works. But if you can power through the first couple of chapters it gets into the meat of the book which is anecdotes of trucking life, including his time in the Vietnam War.
Interesting, nothing too deep but mildly entertaining.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews