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Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Strikingly True (2011)

by Geoff Tibballs(Favorite Author)

4.34 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1609910001 (ISBN13: 9781609910006)

languge

English

genre

Young Adult Fiction

publisher

Ripley Publishing

review 1: I can't resist Ripley's...I went to the Blackpool incarnation in 1993 during an amagical family Butlins holiday and it immediately seared into my brain as something wildly exotic - that is to say, beyond the obvious exotic esotericism of the collections, but that it was indubitably an American thing. The nature of the arcane in GB seemed so tepid until I dug up Aleister Crowley via John Lennon at about 14. 14 was also the age I got to see a Ripley's in its natural environment - a grotesque, impermanent edifice in Florida. Even more spectacular (and how it overshadowed the visit to Granada Studios) was Robert Ripley's bucktoothedness, a physiognomic quirk of importance to American legend and folklore but now consigned to dental history. For an Anglo-Irishman I have reasonab... morely good teeth, but I've always been oddly drawn to mouths that look like stormwracked graveyards. The American newsmile is something I'm slightly phobic of, makes me thing of alien greys and cream cakes with sponge fingers (I also have a light sponge finger phobia). Sweetly, my father has ever since endeavoured to present me with Ripley's annuals on appropriate occasions and this is an absolute gem - some pages are almost impossible to look at, copiously endowed with Robert Ripley's proto-punk idea of aesthetics, simultaneously violently garish and traditional smoking room curio parlour. I love Ripley's and will never get tired of them, even in their ubiquity and corporation; reminders of the relentless chaos of our little world and the weird blips of nature that continue to occur no matter how hard we're all scrubbing the planet to make it look a bit like an iMac. I love an Odditorium, and I love a man who wonders how many golf balls he can fit in his mouth. This particular edition has a wonderful section on the very first Odditorium exhibit from 1933.
review 2: A collectors edition, sure to make a perfect gift for those who love the odd, strange but true.Once I received the book, I was immediately impressed by the holographic red and silver cover of the new Ripley's Believe It or Not! Strikingly True book. As a child I had always had an interest in the strange and unique. I remember purchasing my first Ripley's book and spending hours just reading and staring at the photos, and sometimes being grossed out, but still loving it. It is quite ironic that my son now has the same type of interests as me and we share that same sense of curiosity in anything strange and out of the ordinary. As a family we always watched the Ripley's Believe It or Not television show and even now we watch re-runs when they are on. When offered the chance to review the new Ripley's Strikingly True book I couldn't email fast enough. I was so excited and so was my son once I told him about it. This book is certainly not like the paperback I had as a child and I consider it a collectors edition. My son has decided it is his book and I now need permission to view it. The colorful pictures bring each oddity to life and this is not a book for the faint at heart. If you have a weak stomach, don't consider even taking a glance at this book, even at the bookstore. Another favorite part of this book for me were the interviews with some very odd and strange people. Ripley's has certainly outdone itself with this beautiful cover and this is a book we will cherish for years to come. less

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