Tuva or bust!
In 1977, Feynman and his sidekick-- fellow drummer and geography enthusiast Ralph Leighton--set out to make arrangements to visit Tuva, doing noble and hilarious battle with Soviet red tape, befriending quite a few Tuvans, and discovering the wonders of Tuvan throat-singing. Their Byzantine attempts to reach Tannu Tuva would span a decade, interrupted by Feynman's appointment to the committee investigating the Challengerdisaster, and his tragic struggle with the cancer that finally killed him. Tuva or Bust!chronicles the deepening friendship of two zany, brilliant strategists whose love of the absurd will delight and instruct. It is Richard Feynman's last, best adventure.
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What Hacker News says
- You might want to read Tuva or Bust! by Ralph Leighton. It features Feynman as he and Ralph planned their trip to Tuva. With that said, it's a good book but I prefer the first two books because they are more about Feynman's thoughts and ideas than anything.
- I'd have to agree with you on this. I read this book last year (got one of my coworkers to read it too) and I was so surprised at how awesome it was that I got "What Do You Care What Other People Think ?" and "Tuva or Bust". Both are really good books because you get to learn more about Richard Feynman and the way he thought about different things ("Surely" is a unique gem though). This particular chapter prompted my attention and by trying to find references online, I ended up at gorgora.com. I didn't want to reference a place I was not sure of so I did not. In hindsight, I should have written a blog post about it. Fortunately, according to whois the site will soon be down (unless my intuition is wrong about what "pending renewal or deletion" means).
- Richard Feynman inspired Ralph Leighton to get curious about Tannu Tuva, an area in central Asia. Which led Leighton to write, "Tuva or Bust!" about his travels there. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60349.Tuva_or_Bust
- This year at Burning Man, I happened to notice a car with the California state license plate "TUVA". I recognized it as belonging to Ralph Leighton, Feynman's close friend and author of Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!. (The plate is a reference to the story recounted in [Tuva or Bust!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuva_or_Bust!).) I reached out to Ralph, and it turns out he wasn't there but his son was. I thought it was a fun coincidence given the theme of the burn.
