This was a solid book, with moments of some surprising humor. However, it felt a bit slim after having just read two other deep and involved books about social collapse: the peak oil-focused Confronting Collapse and the environmental devastation-focused What We Leave Behind. There wasn't much in this that wasn't covered in greater detail in those two books. However, this does definitely have its moments (I really liked the "Adaptation" section) and it is a nice introduction and primer to social collapse. And it was interesting to see the collapse of the Soviet Union compared to the future collapse of the U.S.

I would recommend this as an intriguing and even at times entertaining introduction to the subject, but there are works of greater depth to be found elsewhere. ( )

As the other reviewers has stated, this author is humorous and he writes really well, too! Mr Orlov's take on life in the former Soviet Union alone is worth the time it takes to read this short (186 pages) book. ( )

This was a solid book, with moments of some surprising humor. However, it felt a bit slim after having just read two other deep and involved books about social collapse: the peak oil-focused Confronting Collapse and the environmental devastation-focused What We Leave Behind. There wasn't much in this that wasn't covered in greater detail in those two books. However, this does definitely have its moments (I really liked the "Adaptation" section) and it is a nice introduction and primer to social collapse. And it was interesting to see the collapse of the Soviet Union compared to the future collapse of the U.S.I would recommend this as an intriguing and even at times entertaining introduction to the subject, but there are works of greater depth to be found elsewhere. ( )

This book is serious, but also very funny. He doesn't argue for a "collapse" of the U. S., he just assumes that it will happen and shows the similarity between the U. S. and the U. S. S. R. on that basis. ( )

http://www.energybulletin.net/node/40989 ( )