Rating: 
Summary: Why was this published?
Review: Ralph Leighton may well be a fun guy to hang out with, and Richard Feynman almost certainly is, but this book really has no reason to have ever been in print. There's almost nothing about the obscure Russian province of their obsession in the book--it's mostly a chronicle of the hobbies of various people who are probably about as interesting--but not more interesting--than most of your friends. The childlike enthusiasm they develop for the language and history of Tuva is charming at times, but after a while their relentless ignorance even of the most basic ways of going about collecting information starts to wewar. Their insistence on providing direct translations of Tuvan in the original turkic word order must seem to the author to be cute--to this reader it came across as mocking the language. Almost any foreign language would sound ridiculous if translated word for word with no corrections for grammar or word order. Both grammar and vocabulary of Tuvan appear to be extremely similar to turkish, so they had huge resources available to them to decipher the language, but it appears from the book that none of them ever figured out that they were even dealing with a turkic language. They never even mention the total lack of words for gender in Tuvan, or the lack of irregular verbs--a huge boon to a prospective langauge student. I'm sure they're fun guys, but this really is a waste of perfectly good tree...
Rating:
Summary: Why was this published?
Review: Ralph Leighton may well be a fun guy to hang out with, and Richard Feynman almost certainly is, but this book really has no reason to have ever been in print. There's almost nothing about the obscure Russian province of their obsession in the book--it's mostly a chronicle of the hobbies of various people who are probably about as interesting--but not more interesting--than most of your friends. The childlike enthusiasm they develop for the language and history of Tuva is charming at times, but after a while their relentless ignorance even of the most basic ways of going about collecting information starts to wewar. Their insistence on providing direct translations of Tuvan in the original turkic word order must seem to the author to be cute--to this reader it came across as mocking the language. Almost any foreign language would sound ridiculous if translated word for word with no corrections for grammar or word order. Both grammar and vocabulary of Tuvan appear to be extremely similar to turkish, so they had huge resources available to them to decipher the language, but it appears from the book that none of them ever figured out that they were even dealing with a turkic language. They never even mention the total lack of words for gender in Tuvan, or the lack of irregular verbs--a huge boon to a prospective langauge student. I'm sure they're fun guys, but this really is a waste of perfectly good tree...
Rating: 
Summary: It's nice to be in Feynman's company again
Review: The obsession started with a simple question, posed after dinner in 1977, when the subject of conversation had turned to geography. Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who would later serve on the commission investigating the Challenger disaster (in 1986), asked his friend and drumming partner Ralph Leighton whether he knew what had become of Tannu Tuva. Leighton had never heard of the place and suspected he was being set up, but the Encyclopedia Britannica confirmed its existence. Tannu Tuva was once an independent country, but it became part of the Soviet Union in 1944. When Feynman and Leighton learned that the capital of Tuva was Kyzyl--a city without any proper vowels in its name--they knew they had to go there: "A place that's spelled K-Y-Z-Y-L has just *got* to be interesting!"
So began our heroes' eleven-year quest to reach Tuva, a more difficult project than you might imagine. Tuva, buried in the Asian heartland, was isolated, the Soviet Union was forbidding, and even basic information was hard to come by. (This quest, remember, was undertaken before the explosion of the internet. One catches oneself, when reading the book, thinking anachronistically about the task: why not just Google the place?) Eventually, of course, they learned an awful lot--about Tuvan throat-singing (my 1991 edition came with a 45!) and Kyzyl's main buildings, about Tuvan stone carvings and shamanism. And they communicated with Tuvans in Tuvan, using a Tuvan-Mongolian-Russian phrasebook that they turned into a Tuvan-Mongolian-Russian-English phrasebook.
Leighton's account of their various attempts to reach Tuva can be confusing--lots of names to remember of contacts who may or may not have wound up aiding in the effort. It all gets a bit muddied. And there is not as much of Feynman in the book as one would like. *Tuva or Bust* is primarily an account of Leighton's role in the quest, with Feynman making brief appearances now and then. Still, it is good to be in the physicist's company, however briefly, and it is good to be reminded, by this quixotic project of his, of Feynman's joy in experience.
Feynman fans, in short, will enjoy the book. Those who are not acquainted with him already, however, should become fans first by reading *Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!* and *What Do You Care What Other People Think?* (Feynman was also the subject of James Gleick's *Genius.*) And *then,* when you're really hooked, get the CD of Feynman drumming and telling stories about his experiences as a safecracker....
Debra Hamel -- book-blog reviews
Author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece
Rating:
Summary: It's nice to be in Feynman's company again
Review: The obsession started with a simple question, posed after dinner in 1977, when the subject of conversation had turned to geography. Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who would later serve on the commission investigating the Challenger disaster (in 1986), asked his friend and drumming partner Ralph Leighton whether he knew what had become of Tannu Tuva. Leighton had never heard of the place and suspected he was being set up, but the Encyclopedia Britannica confirmed its existence. Tannu Tuva was once an independent country, but it became part of the Soviet Union in 1944. When Feynman and Leighton learned that the capital of Tuva was Kyzyl--a city without any proper vowels in its name--they knew they had to go there: "A place that's spelled K-Y-Z-Y-L has just *got* to be interesting!"So began our heroes' eleven-year quest to reach Tuva, a more difficult project than you might imagine. Tuva, buried in the Asian heartland, was isolated, the Soviet Union was forbidding, and even basic information was hard to come by. (This quest, remember, was undertaken before the explosion of the internet. One catches oneself, when reading the book, thinking anachronistically about the task: why not just Google the place?) Eventually, of course, they learned an awful lot--about Tuvan throat-singing (my 1991 edition came with a 45!) and Kyzyl's main buildings, about Tuvan stone carvings and shamanism. And they communicated with Tuvans in Tuvan, using a Tuvan-Mongolian-Russian phrasebook that they turned into a Tuvan-Mongolian-Russian-English phrasebook. Leighton's account of their various attempts to reach Tuva can be confusing--lots of names to remember of contacts who may or may not have wound up aiding in the effort. It all gets a bit muddied. And there is not as much of Feynman in the book as one would like. *Tuva or Bust* is primarily an account of Leighton's role in the quest, with Feynman making brief appearances now and then. Still, it is good to be in the physicist's company, however briefly, and it is good to be reminded, by this quixotic project of his, of Feynman's joy in experience. Feynman fans, in short, will enjoy the book. Those who are not acquainted with him already, however, should become fans first by reading *Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!* and *What Do You Care What Other People Think?* (Feynman was also the subject of James Gleick's *Genius.*) And *then,* when you're really hooked,get the CD of Feynman drumming and telling stories about his xperiences as a safecracker....
Rating: 
Summary: The final chapter of "Surely You must be Joking"
Review: This book is more about Ralph than it is about Richard. But it gives us some insight as to what life was like living close to Dr. Feynman. He was a character and when he came up with going to Tuva how could you resist? Its so far fetched that it might just be possible for a couple of USA physicists to go to a place deep within the communist Soviet Union and make friends. Another great read in the series that starts in "Surely you must be joking." (BTW the first book is still the best of these 3. However I wanted to know more after reading each one so onward I treked.
Rating:
Summary: Tuva or Bust
Review: This book was really a fun read. The author has a really adventurous attitude and that reminds us all that we can create adventures for ourselves. Sometimes small details in life can be explored, shared, celebrated and then lead to some really curious adventures.
Rating: 
Summary: Do You Really Want the Easy Way Out?
Review: Tuva or Bust is one of the best books on research and learning that you can read. In college, too many students want to know the answer before they do the project. And professors tell them the answer. The result: no learning takes place. If you do not know where you are going to end up when you start a term project, then you have a chance to surprise yourself with the knowledge that you gain in the process. Learning is hard work. This book shows that a cooperative effort by a group of people can overcome many obstacles and achieve a goal. A wonderful book. Any student in any field of study should read it
Rating:
Summary: Galsan Tschninag and "Die Karawane der Tuwas"
Review: Under the communist's regime the nomades of the Tuvian tribe (living in Mongolia) were not allowed to live their ancient life style. This all changed when Galsan Tschinag, the famous Mongolian writer brought back members of his tribe (he is the leader and chief) to the mountans of the High Altai (in the west of Mongolia). We friends of endangered cultures can only hope, that Galsan Tschinags books (which are written in German) will be translated soon into English. The tribe of Tuva does not have a written language, so he studied "Germanistik" in Leipzig and is a powerful writer of prosa and lyrics. If you are interested to read about the "real life" of this tribe and the struggle to go back home to their homeland in the Altai, the "Karawane" by Galsan Tschinag is a big Must. Any information we can get like the "Tuva or Bust" by Ralph Leighton helps to understand different lifestyles better.
Rating:
Summary: info on related film at sundance film festival
Review: Watch for "Genghis Blues" a Sundance Film Festival winner. The story of a blind blues singer who hears the Tuva-style throat singing over the short-wave radio and learns how to do it. He then contacts Leighton's "Friends of Tuva" and what a great story of how a motley group visits Tuva and one member enters the throat singing contest. A must-see film for fans of this book. Let's get the book BACK in print!
Rating:
Summary: Extremely pleasant and informative book on lost land of Tuva
Review: When I was a kid in the 1950s I collected stamps and had quite a few from a mysterious little land called "Tannu Tuva". It always intrigued me because though I could find it on the old globe we had at home (made before the USSR swallowed the unfortunate Tuvans in 1944)I never heard the slightest news from there, nor did I ever hear of anyone going or coming from that little red country sandwiched between the yellow Soviet Union and green Mongolia. Time passed. A lot of time. Fast forward in fact, forty years. One day I saw a new book advertised--TUVA OR BUST. I could scarcely believe that somebody else in America remembered that hapless little country that once issued diamond and triangle stamps with yaks, camels, archers, and horsemen on them. Yet, they had it at our local bookstore. I bought it and read it as soon as I got home. What a treat ! I had never heard of Richard Feynman, not being a physics aficionado, but he turned out to be a great character. I enjoyed reading about his years-long efforts with Ralph Leighton to get to Tuva. They went through all kinds of trouble and interesting side voyages. I strongly recommend that you read this book. For me, reading the book was only a beginning. I listened to the plastic disc of Tuvan throat singing that came with the book, and subsequently bought tapes and attended Tuvan concerts by the group Huun Huur Tu in Boston. I also became a "Friend of Tuva". You can find their website on the net. I still drive around with my 'Tuva or Bust' bumper sticker. All of this stemmed from reading this delightful book on a faraway, unknown country and two people's adventures trying to get there. A very pleasurable experience.
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