Mr. Rybczynski and Mr. Olin do an admirable job of conveying the history of Vizcaya, but their book is not one of those lavishly photographed, coffee-table architecture books that have become so common in recent years.

WSJ: An American Renaissance Gem

However, even with the rise of the G20 as the main global economic decision making body, with China, India, Brazil, Russia and South Africa all at the top table, the world appears to lack the governance architecture to achieve the conditions for this kind of enduring economic reform.

BBC: How to catch a falling knife

Across a table in his cavernous Las Vegas studios, he tells me how he designed his first casino fresh out of architecture school.

BBC: Las Vegas casinos trumped by Chinese 'Sin City'