Ripley's Believe It Or Not (Non-Fiction)

Released October 2005

www.ripleys.com

Reviewed by Tracy Farnsworth

Saturday's weather proved to be miserable, so my children pulled out a book we'd gotten a number of years ago for review for my former site and asked me to redo it. It's a book they love, even as they grow older, and still love to flip through from time to time.

RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT! PLANET ECCENTRIC is full of the weird, unusual and downright hilarious. I think the hilarious stories of things people have done and probably should have thought twice about always crack me up. This includes the bank robber who gets away with his crime and then realizes he left his hold-up note with the teller and returns to the scene of the crime to retrieve it. Another funny story involves a group of Mexican criminals who dig a tunnel to flee captivity, but eventually come out in the middle of a courtroom where there is a current trial underway.

Also in the book are loads of photographs involving some pretty unusual things such as a daring man who does handstands in some pretty extreme locations, a wedding cake made completely from yarn, a man who eats metal instead of food or the man who can squirt milk from his tear ducts.

Those with weak stomachs or sensitivities to creepy crawlies may need to flip by pages. I have issues with the world's largest spider, shown in its actual size, and flip by that page in a rush. But the rest of the book is entertaining and even informative.