Well, not exactly a roundup because we’re talking only two books here. But two good ones.
First, we’ve got three new segments of Jake MacGregor’s novel The Advisor this week, beginning with Chapter 29. We’re reaching the point where a few mysteries are starting to be resolved. (Always like that part of a book — especially when the author has been so artfully, maddeningly withholding in the early going.)
—–
The second book, I want to mention before I have to send it back to the library. I’ve been conniving to keep this little volume in my hands much longer than the library usually allows because it’s so full of voice-of-experience observation about hard times.
I’m talking about Dmitry Orlov’s Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Experience and American Prospects.
I don’t think I’ve ever crammed one tiny book so full of bits of torn paper to mark passages that are quotable, startling, funny, or useful.
You may remember Orlov from 2005 or so when he predicted that the U.S. was heading for a Soviet-style collapse. He was in a position to know, having lived in the U.S. for many years but also having watched the USSR’s disintegration up close and personal. A blog reader (thank you, J) reminded me about Orlov earlier this summer.
This book is the continuation of his original observations — now that the house of cards has begun to fall.
Orlov is no libertarian and certainly no anarcho-anything. (He’s all for universal health care, for one thing.) But he is a sharp observer and often a scathingly witty writer. He compares the U.S. and Soviet systems, explains their shaky similarities, but also points out key differences.
Differences that don’t work in our favor in hard times.
In short (to paraphrase, and I hope not misinterpret) Orlov says the U.S. will suffer more from its collapse because … well, read the book and see. I can’t do him justice in a few paragraphs.
You almost certainly won’t agree with every word he writes. But it’s a fun read despite its subject, and there’s a lot of wisdom to be gleaned from it.
somewhere in the world Dmitry Orlov just winced being mentioned in the same breath as my work 🙂
I too applaud his work and recommend it
Jake
Thank you, Jake. Orlov should be happy to be mentioned in conjunction with The Advisor.
Oh, and for anybody who cares, Jake — a large presence around here lately — isn’t the “J” who recommended Orlov. That would be “JS.”
Speaking of a Collapse, here’s a site that’ll give a clue as for one of the reasons why we’re heading that way.
Be prepared to get scared.
http://www.latoyaegwuekwe.com/geographyofarecession.html
if you do the following google search you can find most of Orlov’s book available in pdf format
“Dimitry Orlov” pdf
or
if you are into bittorrent
“dimitry orlox” torrent
I was able to find all of his books online free – including “Reinventing Collapse”
And regarding the unemployment map that Jim put up, what is really interesting is how the coasts were the area’s that hit 10% first.
And if you aren’t scared already you haven’t been paying attention.
The coasts have the following:
1. Have the most Cities.
2. The most populated areas of the country
3. Have the most nefarious business and employment laws
4. Have the most socialistic ideas about how life should be run.
I’m sure someone else could add more.
Oh I understood all that, It’s just fun showing this to a liberal or progressive and watch their face change colors. and better yet draw their attention to the locations that have to most “progressive” controls on their populations and how that equates to unemployment.
I made a ooops on my google search instructions
“Dimitry Orlov” filetype:pdf
or
if you are into bittorrent
“dimitry orlox” filetype:torrent
The 1st example will search for all doc’s google can find that have Orlov’s name in it and ends with a pdf. You could do this for epub,mobi,doc,lit etc etc etc – nice search to know about.
Note the Space between the ending ” and the start of filetype – that is important
Sorry Claire, but after reading the fist few chapters of Orlov’s book in pdf format, I think it’s trash. Comparing a country that killed millions of its own people, imprisoned millions more in gulags where they died of exhaustion and starvation, not to mention the subjugation of Eastern Europe for nearly a half century, the annexation of half of Finland and all the Baltic states with untold hundreds of thousands more deaths from people in those areas shipped off to labor camps in Siberia to die…
to dare to compare that 70 year totalitarian nightmare with this country in a moral equivalency, well, it’s just plain propaganda. It makes me want to puke.
His direct comparisons would be laughable were they not so pathetic. Chernobyl vs. Katrina. America’s middle class vs. Soviet “classless” society. And on and on.
And then there’s the tone. The almost happy, rubbing his hands together satisfaction that oozes from the pages when he calls the business genius of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs amateurish, all the while touting Soviet basic scientific research and implying theft of same by OUR scientists. Does he mention the Rosenburgs or the German scientists kidnapped at the end of WW2? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
And you find this garbage insightful? Do you hate this country that much?
I, myself, go more for the “Love the Country, Hate the Government” type of thing.
Hi Claire,
Now that you’re living in a fancy mansion compared to your previous cabin/shack, you’re probably no longer interested in small homes/houses, right?
Well, if you were, then you might want to check out this:
http://relaxshacks.blogspot.com/
It has the world’s biggest dog, and its bathroom, although I have no idea how that dog could fit through the door. : )
Oh, don’t forget to check out the “Wolfe’s Den” ; )
Old Printer, I did say I didn’t expect anybody hereabouts to agree with everything Orlov has to say.
I do believe he has insights into the Soviet collapse — and why ours will be both similar and different.
To each his own; if you don’t like Orlov, you don’t like Orlov. No biggie. But what by what measure do you assume that everyone who disagrees with your opinion on one writer must “hate this country”?
Jim B. — great site! And I love the dramatic simplicity of the Wolfe’s Den!
But where’s the dog? I missed the dog!
Claire,
The Dog is on the second page down/in. I’ve went past that to the “beginning”. All you had to do was click the “Older Posts” link located at the bottom of the first page.
Try this:
http://relaxshacks.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-08-15T15%3A55%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7
It’s a bit down the page, but it’s there.
Oh. THAT dog! Yeah, how could I have missed that? (By not going to page 2, that’s how.) I’ve seen that dog before in a list of unusual hotels, motels, and bed & breakfasts. I’d love to stay there sometime.
Claire, I should have said “hate what our country’s becoming” because like you I can see the trappings of a burgeoning police state. It’s always good to follow the maxim of wait before writing, especially after getting one’s dander up.
The charged critique of Orlov is because much of what he says about U.S. debt, our needless wars post WW2, arms sales, hollowing out of our manufacturing base, etc, is true. But so much else he writes comes off as excuse making for his home country, and is blatantly false. Also, I don’t buy his take on this country descending to worse levels than Russia after a monetary collapse. Most of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe was a shell with no ability to produce basic consumer items before dissolving. We have had a capability to ramp up production on short notice, as demonstrated during WW2. And there is no reason to believe we couldn’t make it here if necessity dictated.
And finally the nail in the coffin to his argument is the matter of energy. He paints a dismal picture of declining oil production basing his theory of collapse almost totally on it. If this country didn’t have significant untapped oil reserves, and didn’t have the worlds largest coal reserves, and didn’t have huge natural gas reserves, and wasn’t a neighbor to Canada, then maybe he would have a point. The only reason we could experience a devasting economic collapse, short of all out war, is if we go on purposely closing down free enterprise while continuing to adopt the very policies and methods of Orlov’s workers paradise.