Free Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example And American Prospects Scripted By Dmitry Orlov Displayed In Digital

makes the compelling case that the U, S. could go through a collapse similar to what the Soviet Union went through, and that the U, S. is much less prepared for it and therefore things will likely be much more horrible here, It's believable because it did happen over there and, as we all know, Americans would be completely stuck without our cars and the superpower of our currency.


As the book progresses, however, it begins to feel more like science fiction and less like sociopolitical theory, Paranoia seems to creep up along with an individuallevel cynicism that the author possibly carries from his formative years in Russia, This mentality remains fairly alien in this country, thank the gods Yankees are still largely optimists who believe we can do better than we're doing.
Not having that seems to be exactly why things went as bad in Russia as they did, and why a lessbad collapse or none at all! might hit this side of the world.


Nevertheless, Orlov points out that an individual should learn a trade, make human connections, and rid himself of debts, These all seem like reasonable and obvious things for the intelligent human being to do whether or not he agrees with all of this book.
The preview text on the back cover pretty much addresses most of the content of the book,

The book was accessible, owing to the anecdotal experience of the author, as opposed to a detached and academic feeling that could have easily been used.
But to do so would have lost the charm,

There's a sort of slowmotion immediacy presented in Orlov's predictions, Collapse is an inevitability, if not an eventuality: this is not debatable, The questions lay in the Why and the When, I think that too many people get caught up in an urgency and either go nuts in preparing or shrug it off as if there was nothing they could do.
It is difficult to make the case for preparation when it seems that the economy is returning to its positive growth status, The case can be made, I think quite easily, that the way we live is far from our potential as individuals, societies, and a species.
If we work to reach our potential, then we can go very far in mitigating disaster, if not making the best of it, Awesome. Russians are badass. Americans are screwed. What's new. Pass the homebrewed vodka. Dmitry Orlov has a distinctive voice, I have heard it before it is an European voice, a voice that has seen big ideas and the empires founded upon them crumble into dust.
He reminds me of my fathers generation that left Europe after the war, He reminds me especially of a Hungarian man I met at work, It is world weary, cynical yet profound in its own way, A perfect example is theyear old man that we encounter in 'Catch',

OLD MAN IN WHOREHOUSE
But I live like a sane one.
I was a fascist when Mussolini was on top, Now that he has been deposed, I am antifascist, When the Germans were here, I was fanatically proGerman, Now I'm fanatically proAmerican. You'll find no more loyal partisan in all of Italy than myself,
CAPT. NATELY
You're a shameful opportunist! What you don't understand is that it's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.

OLD MAN IN WHOREHOUSE
You have it backwards, It's better to live on your feet than to die on your knees, I know.
CAPT. NATELY
How do you know
OLD MAN IN WHOREHOUSE
Because I amyearsold, How old are you

If you do not want to hear home truths explained anecdotally do not read this book, It is a book of observation not facts and charts, This is a man that observed the fall of the Soviet Union from the perspective of a Soviet citizen with an American home,

He is quite convinced that America is in the process of collapsing, He makes useful comparisons with the USSR but they are not flattering, He thinks because of the turbo charged capitalism, prevalent in America, people will starve rather quickly, In USSR at least there was a lot of fat in industry and a willingness to turn a blind eye by managers when people came to work to steal stuff to swap with others.


His main advice is do not rely on the state institutions when things go belly up, Keep your head down and shut up, and survive. Oh yes and make useful friends because money won't save you, As Orlov states himself, his book is an exercise in imaginationstretching, Whatever degree of confidence you may have in the proposition that the economy and society of the USA will collapse soon, from zero most Americans to nearlythe author, a few sessions with this volume will assuredly lead you to think things you haven't before.


The bedrock Orlov bases his book on is that the economic system of the US, depending as it does on a vast supply of oil and foreign credit, will collapse once this supply thins out.
The thesis built on this bedrock is not that we can somehow avoid the collapse, but the more humble and reasonable, in my opinion notion that there are particular aspects of the US economy and society that make us particularly vulnerable to disaster when the collapse comes.
He compares the United States to a society whose collapse he witnessed firsthand, the former Soviet Union, and finds we come up on the losing side of the "collapse gap".


Whether you buy his particular brand of reasonable doomsaying or not, I find it very compelling that the steps he recommends for weathering collapse live more sustainably get to know your neighbors stop concentrating on monetary wealth and build up concrete and social assets start growing some of your own food learn valuable, productive skills are more or less things which would benefit us in any case, whether our economy collapses or not.
If he turns out to have been wrong, and we get out of this depression back into the "business as usual" of five years ago, and go back to clearing land for more strip malls and suburban cookiecutter housing developments, then oh well at least it was an interesting read.
If he's not wrong, then hopefully it will be slightly less shocking when the collapse comes, How unfortunate for a book mentioning peak oil so often to be published inof all years,

Also, too much anthropogenic global warming bs for me to handle, Maybe stop reading all that liberal trash you cite, if you wanna get a grasp on energy or climate, or anything,

The stories about the Soviet Union experiences are worthy of, So is the hatred of the Empire of Lies, I got a lot to look forward to for this awful zionist crap land, but it ain't peak oil or global warming, Hopefully, it will involve several Russian ICBMs, While "Reinventing Collapse" offers an interesting proposition, it fails miserably at selling it, This book should rather be categorized as Comedy, as the completely outlandish, ludicrous statements made throughout this book will make anyone with a critical mind laught out loud repeatedly.
Most claims within this book are depressively pessimistic, yet the author fails to present any evidence why such claims should become reality, except vague references to the Soviet Union and Peak Oil theory.
Some sections of this book may fail to make you laugh, but will instead make you roll your eyes at the arrogance the author proudly displays in this book.


Making all of this worse, the author basically claims anyone disagreeing with his theories to be simply

ignorant, in denial, "wallowing in blissful ignorance" or to have "been subjected to mind control.
. . through repetition", refusing to accept what lies ahead for the United States,

There is however, a small upside to this book, The predictions of the later chapters, namely "Adaptation" and "Career Opportunities", are, however unrealistic they might be, quite entertaining to read and imagine! This is one of the best books I have read.
Perhaps, because I share similar background with the author, I can really relate to his writing, He is a very deep thinker, yet presents his reflections in a very entertaining and clever way, He can make you laugh even when talking about the grimmest things, This book is also extremely useful as a glimpse of what to expect going forward into the decline of the USA and the Western world with it.
I also try to read everything this author puts out on his blog, .