Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Download the Weird by Geoff Tibballs (Compiler)

My son and I like looking through these books together to see who can gross the other one out with the weirdest things.  I usually lose, but we both end up in hysterics!

Some of the grossest things we found in this edition included:

• the gardener who accidentally impaled himself through the eye with a pair of gardening shears (p. 112)
• the biologists at Cambridge University who genetically engineered E. chromi bacteria to change the color of feces depending on ailments in the subject’s body (p. 98)
• the “vomit artist” Millie Brown, who consumes soy milk mixed with food dyes before sticking her fingers down her throat to make herself vomit onto the canvas (pp. 206-7)

There are plenty of interesting things that are NOT completely disgusting, as well.  Some of our favorites were:

• the Gum Man, Chris Antes, who can sculpt gum into intricate shapes without his hands (p. 216)
• the panda suits worn by keepers at the panda conservation centers in western China (p. 54)
• the SEGA game “toylets” found in urinals in Japan which measure the strength and accuracy of the gamer’s aim while peeing (p. 168)

Happy Teen Read Week!

Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Strikingly True by Geoff Tibballs

Ripley’s Believe It Or Not books are always so much fun to look through!  My son and I spent HOURS poring over the photos and accompanying stories.  Some of our favorite stories included:

• the dogs who were painted to look like pandas and tigers [to raise awareness of endangered species]
• the man who could lift 110 pounds of iron weights with his mouth
• the bacon sculpture of Kevin Bacon
• and coffins that looks like cars!

This book will appeal to people of all ages, so I am definitely adding it to the non-fiction collection in my Teen Area.  The only BAD thing about this book is that it seems to be a time-sink; I told my son we only had time to read few pages and ended up completely engrossed for 45 minutes!  Especially since I am a librarian, though, accidentally reading for “too long” with my son is a risk I’m willing to take.

Happy Reading!