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Book Review, © Copyright 1997, Jim Loy
This wonderful book is subtitled, "Richard Feynman's Last Journey." Richard Feynman was a Nobel Prize winning physicist. He was widely recognized as one of the great original thinkers of physics, in this century, and perhaps in all time. He apparently never actually wrote a book, but there are numerous books with his name on them. Supposedly, all were lectures transcribed by some of his students, or stories he told to Mr. Leighton (See below). He was one of the members of the committee investigating the disaster of the Space Shuttle Challeger.
Tuva or Bust is about Feynman's efforts, late in his life, to visit Tuva, or Tuvanskaya, ASSR. It is a mountain country adjacent to Mongolia. And, its capital is Kyzyl. Feynman wanted to visit Kyzyl, "because it's spelled K-Y-Z-Y-L." And "A place that's spelled K-Y-Z-Y-L has just got to be interesting."
Feynman noticed Tuva when he collected stamps as a child. There are triangular and diamond-shaped stamps of Tuvans, doing what Tuvans do (stand by your camel, for example). Feynman's attempts to get to Tuva, may be like the way he approached a theoretical physics problem. He explores, and attacks here and there, and makes some progress, and explores some more, and interests others in the problem, and they attack as well. It's inspirational, in an amusing way.
Feynman and Leighton were on the verge of flying to Tuva, when Feynman died of cancer.
The book comes with a flexible plastic phonograph record of Tuvan throat singing and whistling (one performer doing both simultaneously). I don't know if the paperback version has this recording.
Above, I said that Feynman never wrote a book. The wonderful books, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What Do You Care What Other People Think? have Feynman's name displayed prominently on the covers, as the only author. Actually, these two books are collections of anecdotes told by Feynman to Ralph Leighton over a period of years. Essentially, he did write these books, even if he didn't write them directly.
Also see the video Horizon - The Pleasure of Finding Things Out - with Richard Feynman.
This book is out of stock, at the publisher. To attempt to order this book anyway, click Amazon.com (goes directly to this book).