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PEOPLE all around the world have lived in houses made of earth. China has its households dug into the topsoil in which the base of a large pit acts as a courtyard. As Adobe (Houghton Mifflin, New York, pp 240, $50) shows America’s adobe houses are also inventive: a traditional form of building that has inspired modern architects and builders. Orlando Romero and David Larkin trace the history of adobe buildings from Africa and Europe to the solar heated and powered houses of New Mexico and California.