Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Prepare to be Shocked! There Really is a Gift out there for that

Hard-to-Buy-for Guy

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--People are a curious lot and imagination has always driven the inquisitive and daring to unbelievable endeavors. Ripley’s Believe It or Not! has been there for 90 years to chronicle the world’s weird, the beautiful, the disgusting, the macabre and the amazing.

This year’s instalment, Prepare to be Shocked!, offers the world a glimpse into that realm and is the perfect holiday gift for the hard-to-buy-for person – especially if they have an eye for the unusual.

Stories include:

• Zhang Deke, 71, from Altay City, China, is truly an electrifying man. He can light up six 13-watt bulbs just by placing them on his head and ears, and has cooked a fish in his hands—in two minutes!
• Mark Chenoweth of England, a spina bifida patient whose only way of getting around was by wheelchair, found he could walk again—after SCUBA diving. Against doctor’s orders, he immersed himself in 55 feet of water, emerged and walked for three days.
• Bloomington, Ind., resident Althea Crome Merback knits the darndest things. Using fine silk threads and needles 0.001 inches thick, she crafts socks 1.5 inches tall. Six of her cardigans fit on one finger!
• For those who feel guilty about chocolate, one restaurant in New York City offers a gilded chocolate dessert. Serendipity 3 blends 28 cocoas from 14 nations and tops it with 23-carat edible gold dust. It’s price tag? A cool $25,000! (Diners get to keep their spoon!)
• Performance artist Dan Meyer swallowed a sword UNDERWATER at Ripley’s Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, S.C., surrounded by sharks and stingrays!
• In all, there are 2,500 unbelievable and true Believe It or Not! facts in the 256 page book, plus more than 500 full color photographs.

“Prepare to be Shocked!” is available at all major bookstores and online. For more information visit http://www.ripleyentertainment.com/publishing.

About Ripley Publishing

Ripley Publishing is the publishing division of Ripley Entertainment Inc., owners of the venerable trademark Ripley’s Believe It or Not! As a global authority on all that is unbelievable, the company offers up its vast archives of the strange and unusual through books, television shows, tourist attractions, merchandise and the worldwide syndication of its daily newspaper cartoon. Ripley researchers across the globe are busy each day digging deep into the world of the odd and bizarre to compile enough fresh and exciting material to fill the more than one million Believe It or Not! books published each year. Ripley Entertainment Inc. is a Jim Pattison Company, the third-largest privately held company in Canada.