Thirty One Lives, 1950 - 2010

This is the definitive Baby Boomer's manual of fun, travel and adventure - complete with drugs and rock and roll but no sex or dirty language. Sorry, but isn't there enough of that stuff out there anyway? It would only tarnish the content of this provocative entertainment extravaganza. From primitive life in the South Pacific to the war in Vietnam, to the smuggler's den in South America, life in prison and beyond, this is a detailed account of life out on the edge and the endless quest for love, spiritual enlightenment and social acceptance.

This is the definitive Baby Boomer's manual of fun, travel and adventure - complete with drugs and rock and roll but no sex or dirty language. Sorry, but isn't there enough of that stuff out there anyway? It would only tarnish the content of this provocative entertainment extravaganza. From primitive life in the South Pacific to the war in Vietnam, to the smuggler's den in South America, life in prison and beyond, this is a detailed account of life out on the edge and the endless quest for love, spiritual enlightenment and social acceptance. "Thirty One Lives", thirty-one chapters. Lives so different and interesting that it was impossible not to remember many of the details. Born on a little farm out by Yellowstone Park, travelling across the Pacific on an ocean liner as a twelve year old in 1961, landing in stone age Papua New Guinea and boarding school in Australia. This is just the beginning. Caught up in the chaos of the Vietnam War - first as a soldier, then a protester. Caught up in the dark world of elicit drugs - first as a user, then a smuggler and finally a prisoner. Married and divorced not once but twice. Pain, joy, love, rejection, acceptance, success, failure - life in a nutshell. Written with rare emotion in a conversational tone that makes for easy reading - a story unlike others. This is a life and living story, just one life, but anyone from this generation can recall and relate to so many of the events described in this book. It was written as a chronicle of the last sixty years, a period of time that saw more change than any other in history. It was written primarily so that we don't forget this extraordinary time from the unique perspective of one person who lived it.

Bob Tuff was born on a little farm outside Cody, Wyoming in 1949. He was educated at boarding school in Australia while his parents were serving as missionaries on the primitive island of Papua New Guinea during the 1960's. He served with the U.S. Army, Vietnam in 1969 and, after being discharged, worked in Minneapolis as a free-lance furniture craftsman until his retirement in 2012. He lived a life of adventure and misadventure along the way and, having remembered most of it, decided that it was a life that deserved a chronicle of some variety. After landing in a quiet place during the year 2010, he sat down and wrote this long memoir in ten months.