1. Mass poetry recitation gets Ashrita Furman his
100th simultaneous Guinness World Record
BY CLARE TRAPASSO
DAILY NEWS WRITER
Updated Wednesday, April 15th 2009, 1:39 PM
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Ashrita Furman and others pose for a photo after breaking the Guinness Book of World Records for reciting and translating
the poem quot;Preciousquot; into 111 languages. See more amazing records!
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Ashrita Furman demonstrates chopping apples with a samurai sword. Furman holds the most Guinness world records held
at the same time by an individual.

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Ashrita Furman hula hoops underwater.
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• Amazing feats and oddities from the Guinness Book of World Records
Reciting poetry in Zulu may not seem like much of a talent, but it landed Ashrita Furman in the record books
- yet again.
Furman, 54, of Jamaica, Queens, became the first person to hold 100 Guinness Book of World Records
simultaneously Tuesday after assembling a group that recited a poem in 111 languages at City Hall Park.
The bunch took turns reading quot;Precious,quot; by the late Indian spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy.
quot;It was fun learning about many of these languages - quite a few I never even heard of,quot; said Furman, who
read the eight-line poem in Zulu.
More than 100 participants - followers of Chinmoy from around the globe - recited the poem in languages
ranging from Dzongkha to Picard.
The effort broke the previous record, in which quot;Values on Community Harmonyquot; was read in 79 languages.
Furman, a health-food store manager, has earned about 230 Guinness records since 1979, when he did
27,000 jumping jacks in five hours.
Earlier this year, Furman broke the record for eating the most M&Ms with chopsticks in a minute. He ate 38.
Over the last 30 years, the man who has broken a record on every continent - including the fastest mile on a
pogo stick in Antarctica and the fastest mile on a kangaroo ball on the Great Wall of China - has seen many
of his own feats toppled.
Organizing Tuesday's record was special, he said, because he got to work with many of his friends gathered
from all over the world to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Sri Chinmoy's coming to America in 1964.
Furman wasn't always a record-breaking machine.
quot;As a kid I was always fascinated by the Guinness Book of World Records. But I was very unathletic and I
never thought I could,quot; Furman said.
It was only when he discovered meditation as a teenager that he said he started to believe in his own
abilities - however quirky they might be.

3. quot;I believe we all have an inner strength that we very rarely use,quot; Furman said. quot;I just love the challenge of
trying to be the best in the world in something.quot;