Review by: Lauren
Copy sent for review, all opinions are our own
Official Summary: The perfect gift for the man in your life. This title will engage its audience with stories, facts and charts that men can relate to. This title takes the unbelievable and strange facts that Ripley’s is known for and expands upon these stories to make a fun and entertaining book for men. Did you know that military hot-air balloons and submarines were used in the American Civil War? Did you know that the Japanese Earthquake shortened a day? What about before Madoff? What was the first ponzi scheme? How about the craziest true plots of the CIA? This title will engage an adult male audience with all the unique and fun stories that Ripley’s is famous for.
Review: We all know the Ripley’s books. They are large coffee-table size, with colorful photos and tons of awesome facts. These are meant to be enjoyed by a variety of readers, but I’m sure they are often loved moreso by kids because of the large book size and crazy pictures. I do enjoy the Ripley books, but I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to actual photos so seeing certain bugs or things that people have done to their bodies creeps me out.
However, this is where the Unbelieveable Stories for Guys comes in! The hardback book (also available in e-book) is pretty much your average book size and it contains no photos. Instead, the book is broken into sections and conatins a variety of facts. A fact or “mini story” as I call it is written first in bold black. After that, the rest of the story is written. Sometimes the facts are short enough to all be in bold. Sections include Body, History, Politics…and one of my favorites, The Arts.
While the book says “for guys” it’s obviously not just for them. There are certainly some gross stories that might appeal more to guys than girls, but that’s not what the book is all about. I found most of these anecdotes to be quite fascinating and the book is full of information that I didn’t already know, which is ideal!
It’s a perfect gift to give the person who has everything or simply thinks he knows everything.
From Ripleys.com, here is a page from the Sports and Games section of the book. Click the picture or this link to read it more fully.
One of my favorite parts in the book is a two-page “spread” of Infamous Last Words. I find last words to be quite interesting, so it was cool to see the sad, humorous, and just a bit shocking final words of a select few.
In honor of Father’s Day, I had to share this book…perfect for males and females, readers and non-readers, and full of fun facts that will answer questions, give you more questions, and generally make learning a bit more fun. I even read quite a few of these facts out loud to my family, who genuinely enjoyed it as well! Pick up a copy and find the story about a hard-to-catch driver in Ireland to see why my family was laughing out loud.
I think it looks like a great book for men and women! I'd love to read it. I've never heard of it – is it new, I take it? Thanks for the rec!
A perfect gift to give the person who has everything or simply thinks he knows everything – well, I can certainly think of several people who would appreciate this.
Seriously though, a great review, thanks for your recommendation.
This sounds like a quirky fun book to have. It's fun to have something like this on the coffee table. You can pick it up, read a little and put it back down. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. 🙂
So cool! I want to buy this for one of my brothers who is soooo hard to buy for. And I would love to see if this book is appropriate for 11 year olds because it sounds like the kind of book my male students would like 🙂
Great review!
Lauren @ Hughes Reviews
Oh, this book sounds VERY INTERESTING! <3 I always have a thing for encyclopedia, so I think this book might be like an encyclopedia for me, just more cool stuffs! <3 Totally a perfect gift for my guy friend! x)
Awesome review! 🙂
Wow, this book would be a lot of fun! Glad to know that it's not just for guys too. 😉 I'm sure there's a lot of great stories and the Infamous Last Names definitely sounds like fun. Thanks for the review!
I read the little sample. Seems like this book would be an interesting fact I didn't know type of book. It makes me wonder when the phrase "Stranger things have happened" will be a moot point.
FUN! I love Ripley's!
I enjoy fact books but I hate things that are labeled for one gender when everyone could like 'em.
Ohhhh, I LOVE this! I always used to love skimming through Ripley's books because they had so many cool facts in them, but I had a tendency to be turned off by a lot of the weird pictures haha :') (One time there was a snapshot of a guy who's fact was COVERED in piercings — it was so awful!) That's why I love how this one is more facts than pictures, because that's like being all the coolness without being grossed out! x)
Thanks so much for sharing this, Lauren! It really IS perfect for Dad's Day — maybe my all-factual mom's boyfriend will like it 🙂 <3
Huh. This sounds really interesting! This is one of those perfect books for the bathroom to pick up and read a little bit here and there.
(Just a note: I don't actually have any books in my bathroom, I'm far too worried about them getting icky germs on them.)
This sounds pretty cool!