Life in the long tail.

• Author: Mangu-Ward, Katherine
• Position: Briefly Noted - The Enthusiast - Brief article - Book review

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In the opening pages of The Enthusiast (Harper Collins), the novel's protagonist, Henry Bay, meets his first love: a kite-powered go-kart. Then he discovers Kite Buggy magazine. "In retrospect," says Bay, "of course there was a magazine; there's a magazine as soon as five people find a new way to hurt themselves."

Our hero goes on explore the wild world of hobbyist publications, parachuting in to scribble some copy for Row! ("The Coxswain That Comes in Your Mailbox") or rewrite an article about hip lock during calving for Country Ways. He guides others to that "once-only Eden" of...