Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects | 
 enlarge | Author: Dmitry Orlov
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 10454
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
The title of this book is Reinventing Collapse, and I have to say that's exactly what this book manages to do. It's a short book, so you could reqad it in just a few hours, but it is packed with information and "make you think" moments. Orlov's unique perpsective on American life engages the reader and opens your eyes to what life in America is like to an outsider.
Without a doubt the most useful aspect of this book are the details of what the situation was like in Russia after their political collapse. This book is a tutorial on how the reader might modify thier life in the future if (or when) America collapses.
Reviewed by Matt Mayer - Groovy Green 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 26 more reviews...
A Brilliant Idea, Taken a Bit Far November 30, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Orlov has written a thought-provoking book, predicting that the collapse of the United States will follow a path analogous to the collapse of the USSR. There are two unique and valuable aspects to the way Orlov approaches this idea. First, as a former Soviet citizen, he reminds the reader of how recent US history looks to the non-American. The alien view is startling and includes some obviously valid insights. I say "obviously valid" because I think anyone would agree with them, not because they are obvious to an ordinary American like me, who has never lived abroad. I say "some" obviously valid insights, because I disagree with much of what Orlov predicts. For example, it is not plausible to me that most Americans would become homeless in an economic meltdown - we would all pay some kind of rent to the banks that had foreclosed on our houses, because the banks need income, too.
This brings me to the second unique and valuable aspect of this book. Orlov wrote it because he really believes what he is saying. He is not an assistant professor publishing a theoretical exercise to earn tenure. To the contrary, he is an engineer who has no axe to grind vis a vis the subject matter, and he is not motivated by anti-Americanism or other cheap sentiment. Orlov is driven, rather, by a strong feeling that the US is in for the same sort of humiliation in the coming decade that the USSR endured in the 1990s. Right or wrong, he is putting his true beliefs on paper. I enjoy reading the deepest thoughts and most strongly held beliefs of intelligent people (and Orlove is clearly very intelligent), even when perhaps overstated or incorrect. And there is always value in following the honest thoughts of someone who is coming from a completely new direction, trying to give a warning. I think this is a great book to take on vacation and discuss with your spouse, if you enjoy knocking ideas around in your free time.
 how did he make this an entertaining read? November 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I fully expected this book to be depressing, but it was also entertaining and hopeful, offering a few very concrete suggestions for wading through the coming (present) collapse of our system (walk more, change your diet NOW, figure out what is important -just to name a few). Orlov is just as critical of the Soviet system as the American one as he plows through the various social, environmental and political structures that need to be dealt with when an entire empire collapses around you. But his first-hand observations of both the Soviet and American models are as fascinating as they are undeniable!
As someone who has been in a peak oil discussion group since 2002 and still feeling as helpless as the day I started, I found Orlov far more insightful than most as he makes his case for reshaping the paradigm that has gotten us in this mess. Highly recommended.
A breathtaking book! October 29, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Reinventing Collapse is a collection of author's personal memories related to USSR collapse during nineties. Such experience is then generalized and projected into hypothetical US collapse (What???????????). The projection is done based on many similarities between both empires. Surprisingly, the collapse seems to be much closer than anybody would expect in the light of presented facts. However the purpose of the book is not to spread fear and doubts. It is exactly the opposite. It analyses the current situation, tries to model collapse in US and tries to find appropriate mitigation strategies and even opportunities (because there are always some, aren't they?) !!!
Along with its very fresh, witty and readable style it is a kind of "must have" book. I very much encourage you to buy one!
Reinventing Collapse: Laugh Till it Hurts October 7, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Well, first of all, it's funny. Really. I don't mean it's filled with jokes, but Dmitry Orlov has a very humorous and biting style. This humorous approach serves two important purposes:
1. It makes the book enjoyable to read.
2. It helps the reader develop a certain healthy detachment from the subject matter. If you can see the humor in the situation, it can lessen the melodrama of the Cold War in the past, and the collapse of both the Soviet Union (past) and its mirror twin the United States (very current).
Orlov observes that the citizens of both the U.S. and the S.U. were targets of marketing campaigns that successfully developed intense brand loyalty. In each country, it was forbidden (either legally or through intense peer pressure) to advocate for the other brand. The U.S. was for capitalists (Yes, we're #1), and the S.U. for communists (Da, we're #1), and never the twain shall meet.
Those benighted residents of countries other than the US and the SU were often forced to choose sides; particularly in the smaller countries when well-armed and well-funded sales reps showed up to make them a deal they couldn't refuse.
Orlov's demonstration in the first part of the book of the similarities between the two countries helps further this detachment, just as he does later in the book with his description of the differences between both empires. What is perhaps most interesting and intriguing is his pointing out that although they appear to be mirror opposites, things are not that simple. Each contains yin-yang-like the opposite of itself, so that the Soviet Empire had a strong entrepreneurial nature (which manifests most obviously through the huge black market), and the American Empire has a strong communal nature, which manifests through community groups and the high-level support of charitable organizations. Orlov even states that Americans make better communists than the Russians, because they are much more willing to live communally.
For the American reader, however, it is the differences in preparedness for collapse that are most important. It's not that the Russians intentionally prepared; it's that their society's condition inadvertently prepared them. The collectivization of agriculture changed, as Orlov says, Russia from Europe's bread basket to Europe's basket case. It was a massive failure. So Russians started their own kitchen and neighborhood gardens which eventually, although only 10% of agricultural land, were estimated to produce a staggering 90% of the country's agricultural products.
Housing was another issue. The Soviet Union's housing program was as bad as its agricultural program. There was always a major housing shortage, and families were required to live in crowded conditions in ugly concrete housing monstrosities. And yet...everyone was housed and the state owned the buildings. When the collapse came, everyone was still housed, because there were no bankers to foreclose on their homes.
Transportation was another important issue. The Soviet Union never dismantled its passenger rail system, as the U.S. began doing in the 1950s when the interstate highway system was being built. So intercity travel remained as good (and as uncomfortable in many cases) as ever. Within the cities, housing was built by the state only where public transportation was available. Few people could afford (and even fewer needed) automobiles. When the crash came, transportation continued as before. Buses, trolleys, trams, subways continued to move residents throughout their cities.
In many smaller cities and most towns in the U.S., public transportation is poor at best, and transportation to outlying suburbs is nonexistent. A huge percentage of Americans are dependent on their personal cars for transportation. When the collapse comes and gasoline is prohibitively expensive (if even available), the choice will no longer be food or fuel. Except...millions of Americans need fuel to get to, or earn the money to pay for, food.
The book is filled with useful information, but I think the most important is the need for "social capital". This is the good will and trust built up among people over time as a result of frequent social and cooperative contact. Orlov describes how the people in Russia who got by best were those who networked with friends and neighbors, giving when they had something, receiving when they didn't. This seemed to be even more essential than the barter system, which was also very important and heavily used.
I've already given several copies of this book to friends. I think it's an excellent manual filled with useful tips, and even more importantly, a guide to the psychological and emotional attitudes that will be necessary to survive in much of the world as we all encounter the tribulations of Peak Oil and Economic Collapse.
Mick Winter (www.DryDipstick.com) is the author of Peak Oil Prep: Prepare for Peak Oil, Climate Change and Economic Collapse
Overall Spot ON Observations September 29, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Orlov provided those who will listen with a grain of salt because he even insists that the reader take his ideas as the framework and not the blueprint for the collapse-a guide for the dark immediate future. Neither he nor anyone else knows exactly the detailed way the collapse will occur. This book is amazing in the way it cuts to the bone of the cultural and philosophical underpinnings that blind most of us. His speculation on the future fallout is instructive but sometimes a tad hyperbolic in my opinion. I could be wrong and I know that all the horrors he proposed as possible scenarios are realistic. I am a pragmatist but one who thinks it won't be as awful. Don't get me wrong. I am planning on getting property I can secure and sustain myself and some close friends!
That said the collapse of America is inevitable, imminent and there are certain systematic failures he discusses that everyone needs to understand even better than him (that is quite a learning curve to take on) in order to survive and adapt. Good luck and read it.
You must make his understanding your own to your immediate circumstances and start now. That is why you must know this better than him. Your future depends on it.
This is one book that could save or rather salvage your future.
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