In a way, this is a familiar problem for us. So much of our relationship is rooted in the unsaid or the unsayable. She once explained that in China, it’s rare to hear “I love you”—to this day, we say ...

I was reading a book review the other day — an essay on poetry, by Elisa Gabbert, as it happens — and came across the name of someone I once knew, a fabulously eccentric cult figure of the old school.

1. Before coming across “A Pattern Language,” I’d never seen anyone codify the factors that make places and cities successful from the perspective of users. Books on architecture tend to focus on ...