Using how-to books for vicarious thrills:

I got many responses to my query; thanks very much to everyone who submitted items. I ultimately ended up choosing the ones for which I could find someone else saying (preferably in a reputable publication) that many readers were indeed likely to use the books to fantasize about doing, rather than to do. Nothing like having Authorities to Rely On, even if they’re just someone who’s making an educated guess about what’s likely.

The items I’m using — and no need to submit more, thanks — are:

1. Lonely Planet: Antarctica. See Juliet Coombe, Planet Goes to China, HERALD SUN (MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA), Jan. 30, 2004, at T11 (interview with Tony Wheeler, co-founder of the company that produces the Lonely Planet guidebooks) (“Q The Lonely Planet guide to Antarctica sells about 45,000 copies a year. Why is it so popular, despite relatively few people going there? [A] Science and wildlife expeditions are getting more exposure and lots of people are armchair travellers. The guidebook includes long sections on wildlife and the environment. For most of us, a trip to Antarctica is a dream.”). Naturally, some of the readers are “armchair travellers” in the sense of people who are curious and want to satisfy their curiosity by reading rather than by traveling; but I suspect that some of the armchair travelers really do read the books to fantasize about actually being there. Thanks to Michelle Dulak Thomson.

2. WoodenBoat magazine. See, e.g., MICHAEL RUHLMAN, WOODEN BOATS 23 (2002) (“[A]n obscure magazine idea, a magazine devoted to wooden boats, became a resounding success precisely because readers didn’t have to own wood to love it, admire it, or even dream about it. . . . [I]ndustry experts guess that fewer than 10,000 wooden boats exist in America, not including dinghies, canoes, kayaks, homemade plywood skiffs, and the like . . . . Yet this minuscule industry . . . generates a subscription base for Wooden-Boat of more than 100,000 . . . .”). Thanks to David Riceman.

3. Worst-Case Scenario books. See, e.g., Jayne Clark, `Worst-Case’ Writers’ Newest Scenario: Runaway Train to Fame, USA TODAY, Apr. 27, 2001, at 7D (“In this sequel to their best-selling The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht have once again produced a very funny guide with a deadpan tone aimed at armchair Walter Mittys, as well as wannabe Indiana Joneses.”). Thanks to many people.

4. Some cookbooks. See, e.g., Maurice Sullivan, Last Best Books of 1997, WINETRADER, vol. R, no. 6, http://www.wines.com/winetrader/r6/r6bk.html (“I have finally figured out that all these beautiful and expensive color cookbooks aren’t for people who really want to cook, but rather are for folks on diets that want to fantasize about food!”). This is probably something of an overstatement, but I suspect that some of the cookbooks’ readers do indeed use the books this way, even if others do actually use them to cook. Thanks to many people, especially Ashley Doherty.