“Biting into a tabasco pepper is like aiming a flame-thrower at your parted lips. There might be little reaction at first, but then the burn starts to grow. A few seconds later the chili mush in your ...

Rowan Moore, architecture critic for the U.K. paper The Observer, can build: He is trained in the craft himself. He also knows how to write descriptively and deliciously, which makes this collection, ...