Book Review: Ripley's Seeing is Believing

Not too long ago, I was creeping through the basement of an abandoned hospital and I chanced upon a room full of boxes. Upon further investigation, the boxes proved to contain plastic spoons. At first I thought they contained hundreds and hundreds of spoons, but then I realized that it was tens of thousands of plastic spoons. It didn’t take me long to start imagining all the things I could do with them. A diabolical scheme hatched in my brain. First I would have my flying monkey army fly them to my attic abode. Then, with a lot of hot glue and a hot glue gun, I would reproduce the ceiling of the Sedlec Ossuary or build a huge dragon sculpture, or… my mind reeled with the possibilities! And then of course I imagined how long it would take me to do all that. Fortunately, there are people who think like this and follow through, as evidenced by the new book by Ripley’s titled Seeing is Believing.

I find it reassuring to think that, when I lay my head down on my pillow, maybe somewhere in the world someone is finishing a celebrity portrait made out of “strike anywhere” matches. Somewhere else, an artist is creating delicate sculptures of animals out of their nail clippings. In China, a cow with two faces is eating, or maybe standing, facing north. Maybe the sun is rising on a man eating fried spiders in Cambodia. My personal favorite is the girl with the snails all over her face.

When Ripley’s contacted me about reviewing this book, I was a little confused why they picked me. But when I got the book it became crystal clear. This book is strange and there’s a little something here for everyone. Here’s a chapter list:

• Strange But True
• Extreme Earth
• Incredible Feats
• Unusual Customs
• Crazy Creatures
• Travel Tales
• Fantastic Food
• Body Oddity
• Strange Sites
• Artistic License
• Amazing Science
• Beyond Belief

This book is not deep reading, but it is a great collection of the bizarre. With more than 2500 Believe-it-or-Nots and more than 500 photos, it strikes me as the ultimate coffee table book. It has that low time investment/high wow factor thing going for it. The photos are great and quite a few of the items merit further investigation on the Internet. (Speaking of which, the book contains links to supplemental photos and videos on the Ripley’s website.)

Creepy Factor: 3 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 0 out of 5
Weird Erotic Tension Factor: 0 out of 5 (it’s family friendly)
Funny and/or Strange Factor: 5 out of 5

Final result: I am going to tell my dentist to get a copy of this book to replace that dreadful Taschen book of modern architecture. What better way to keep your mind off your appointment than gaping at a photo of a man with a snake crawling up his nose, through his sinuses, and back out his mouth?

Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Seeing is Believing – Ripley Publishing – 2009
Ripley’s Believe It or Not on Amazon

Many thanks to Ripley Books for sending me this book to review. (See my disclosure policy.) Thanks for reading another one of my book reviews. See you next time!