Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects | 
 enlarge | Author: Dmitry Orlov
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
Buy New: $10.10
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Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 13156
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.6
ISBN: 0865716064
Dewey Decimal Number: 320
EAN: 9780865716063
ASIN: 0865716064
Publication Date: June 1, 2008
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Product Description
In the waning days of the American empire, we find ourselves mired in political crisis, with our foreign policy coming under sharp criticism and our economy in steep decline. These trends mirror the experience of the Soviet Union in the early 1980s. Reinventing Collapse examines the circumstances of the demise of the Soviet superpower and offers clear insights into how we might prepare for coming events. Rather than focusing on doom and gloom, Reinventing Collapse suggests that there is room for optimism if we focus our efforts on personal and cultural transformation. With characteristic dry humor, Dmitry Orlov identifies three progressive stages of response to the looming crisis: - Mitigation-alleviating the impact of the coming upheaval
- Adaptation-adjusting to the reality of changed conditions
- Opportunity-flourishing after the collapse
He argues that by examining maladaptive parts of our common cultural baggage, we can survive, thrive, and discover more meaningful and fulfilling lives, in spite of steadily deteriorating circumstances. This challenging yet inspiring work is a must-read for anyone concerned about energy, geopolitics, international relations, and life in a post-Peak Oil world. Dmitry Orlov was born in Leningrad and immigrated to the United States at the age of twelve. He was an eyewitness to the Soviet collapse over several extended visits to his Russian homeland between the late eighties and mid-nineties. He is an engineer and a leading Peak Oil theorist whose writing is featured on such sites as www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net and www.powerswitch.org.uk.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 Laughing All the Way to the Brink August 19, 2008
This is a truly funny book about the collapse of a major empire. That would seem impossible, except it's true.
Orlov describes exactly what it's like when the wheels stop turning inside a huge country, something most Americans probably thought very little about when we "won" the Cold War. He was quite young at the time, which probably explains why this little book has a droll, light-hearted tone. It was probably wasn't all that amusing for those who were over 60 and watched the meaning of their entire adult lives circling the drain, but if you plan to survive a major collapse, a sense of humor is clearly one of the better things to have.
That thought alone is worth the price of admission because there are indeed chilling parallels, quite visible among the quips, between the USA today and the USSR then. Military overreach, crushing debt, corrupt and atherosclerotic leadership....surely it couldn't happen here? Oh, wait...
Unique & Powerful & Immensely Readable August 13, 2008
This is the best new book I've read in perhaps five years. It ranks with Kunstler's _Long Emergency_, Richard Heinberg's _Powerdown_ and _The Party's Over_, and Jared Diamond's _Guns, Germs, and Steel_ as the most enlightening, well-written works of the last decade.
I say this both as somebody who's using the book to teach environmental sociology and just as an ordinary citizen who reads a lot of new books.
And the bonus is that Orlov, who moved to the US at age 12, manages to combine his profound perspective and careful, razorlike concepts with a humane, personal, and wry (and presumably Russian/Soviet?) sense of humor and pathos.
I found myself laughing and making copious notes and underlines in equal measure. I will be keeping this treasure close at hand...
Serious issues to ponder July 25, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book makes you think about the important issues facing an economic collapse from a person who has seen one first hand. The questions and issues Orlov asks the reader still make me think. I sent some questions to close friends but no one wants to consider negative issues when the US denial lifestyle is running along ignoring peak oil. Paraphrased example: Everyone knows the US can bomb the s___ out of any country. But everyone also knows they can't win a war. The author does a great job of using humor to keep the reader engaged to finish the book. Not an easy thing to do on this topic. Nice job Orlov. Highly recommended.
Dmitry Orlov Gives Fresh Perspective on Dark Future for U.S. July 15, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
You need to read "Reinventing Collapse" by Dmitry Orlov, if only to get
an outsider's perspective on our American way of life. But Mr. Orlov is
not only an outsider who grew up in the former Soviet Union, he also happened to live through the FSU's collapse in the 1990's. You'll probably
be surprised to find out how many similarities there are between the world's most powerful capitalist democracy and the former world's most powerful
communist totalitarian state. Both spent a lot of resources in long
wars in the Middle East, both had large military budgets, both had mechanized, large-scale agricultural systems.
Orlov has a gift for turning things on their head: he points out that it
is the very failings of the Soviet Union that made it's eventual collapse
easier to bear. For instance, the centralized food distribution system was so bad that people had been raising a lot of their own food for years, so when the system fell apart, they were prepared. This leads to one of his frequent themes, that you are best prepared for collapse if you don't have that far to fall. If you are used to a highly luxurious lifestyle where your every need is met, you won't be ready when this is taken away. He again turns things upside down by suggesting that we shouldn't try to take action and head off this crisis; instead it is better to let the government and others blunder along making things worse
by their efforts to maintain the status quo. This will lead to further depletion of money and resources, and start us on our way down from our high perch - so we won't have so far to fall.
Jeremy Hickerson,
Salem, Oregon
 Few new ideas, strong anti-U.S. sentiment throughout July 13, 2008
2 out of 7 found this review helpful
The premise of this book, that an analysis of the collapse of the Soviet Union would offer some insights into America's coming challenges, is an intriguing idea. And, through the first chapter where the author outlines some of those challenges, the concept is encouraging.
Sadly, the idea is never developed. Instead, the author spends the vast majority of his time expounding on how weak Americans (abhorrent of the smell of a human body) didn't win the Cold War. They merely won a brief reprieve through the surprisingly good luck of firms such as Microsoft.
There are a *couple* interesting ideas in here, but you'll have to hold your own nose and dig through piles of KGB-era propaganda. Human beings are weeds. Western farmers have tiny sperm counts. Americans are chronically depressed. The abuse goes on and on.
Save your money. Buy Peter Schiff's book Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse (Lynn Sonberg Books), or maybe Financial Armageddon: Protecting Your Future from Four Impending Catastrophes, Revised and Updated Edition. All you'll find from Mr. Orlov are recommendations to be lazy (hard workers are "fools") and to make many new friends so they can support you.
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