In each volume , the best essays take us as deep into the writer as the subject : Pankaj Mishra finding echoes of India in the alleys and courtyards of Venice ; P. J. O'Rourke packing all his neurotic skepticism for the maiden flight of the world 's largest airliner ; George Saunders , creator of satirical theme-park fiction , wandering around Dubai , Arabia 's ultimate '' fake town . ''