Man holds 100 Guinness records

NEW YORK, April 15 (UPI) -- A New York man has become the first person to simultaneously hold 100 titles in the Guinness Book of World Records following a mass poetry reading.

Ashrita Furman, 54, obtained his 100th simultaneous record Tuesday by organizing a group that read a poem, "Precious" by late Indian spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy, in 111 languages in New York's City Hall Park, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday.

"It was fun learning about many of these languages -- quite a few I never even heard of," said Furman, who chose Zulu as his language for reading the poem.

Furman said he has earned about 230 Guinness records, but many have since been broken. He said his first record was performing 27,000 jumping jacks in a five hour period in 1979.

"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," Furman said.

He said taking up meditation helped him find the inner strength to perform feats including eating 38 M&Ms with chopsticks in one minute earlier this year.

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