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Every summer I always decide that I’m going to do an absolute load of reading. I head into town to take advantage of whatever 3-for-2 book deal I can find and then get cracking. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm never lasts very long.

https://www.thenationalstudent.com/articleImages/Carved Book Landscapes2.jpg

When your pace eventually starts to slow, you’re faced with a stack of unread books on your desk that’s not going anywhere. Worst of all, they sit there staring at you, accusing you of not having the drive to finish what you started. Maybe it was this that led artist Guy Laramee to chop up a load of old books as part of an art project. Taking natural landscapes and ancient ruins for his inspiration, Laramee has turned his forgotten holiday reads into his masterpieces.

So don’t throw out all of your unread Mills and Boons. You may not actually have any interest in reading them but there could be a work of art hiding between the covers.

If you needed any more inspiration to get off your backside and finish your holiday reading list/ convert it into a jaw-dropping sculpture then maybe you should have a look at dead.atyourage.com . This website lets you know what some really interesting people did before they reached your age (and died).

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For older readers, I’m sure that this website will turn up some really interesting stuff. If you’re in your teens or early 20s though, most of the important people dead at your age seem to have been either gunslingers or reckless drivers. Even so, it’s food for thought. If Napoleon II was emperor of France by the time he was 21, just think what you could do.

OK, newsflash! This week, the Bournemouth Daily Echo reported that a British schoolboy had become rich after finding a big lump of whale sick on the beach. The lump of ambergris, used to prolong the scent of perfume, could be worth up to £40,000. Charlie Naysmith is considering using the potential profit to build a house for animals. So, next time you’re strolling along the beach it might be worth taking a closer look around. You’ll need a keen eye though as ambergris apparently looks very much like a normal rock.

One woman who perhaps should have been less curious about the rocks she found lying about is pensioner Luo Kairong, a villager from Qijiang county, China. For the last 70 years Luo has been including small stones as part of her everyday diet. As a small child, she began to deal with her family’s poverty by eating soil. However, when she moved to a town where the soil tasted different she made the logical progression to eating stones. All of this does come at a cost though. She has had to replace her dentures three times. You can read the full story here.

And finally, here’s a brilliant video that shows you “how to be a real man.” You’d think Granny Luo was on the right track with her stone-munching but apparently not. In this clip, it’s religion that helps Joe Simmonds man up. It’s interesting that the first thing he does after converting is trash his room and floor his best mate. Watch out for the terrific one-liners though: “Green Day, not today!”

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