Rating: 
Summary: Dilbert 101
Review: The reason for the remarkable success of Scott Adams' Dilbert cartoon strip is obvious; he has captured the flavor of modern business and held it up to the light of truth, revealing all of its quirks, crazy strategies, and downright insanity for all to see. Dilbert is the working man's hero; while we toil away in our little cubicles, waiting for quitting time and weekends, Dilbert and his pals are fighting back - well, not fighting, but they are doing all kinds of complaining, the same complaining most office workers do, albeit not so forthrightly. The Dilbert Principle is the book that made a cult comic strip a treasury of American humor; taken outside the frames of his heralded daily comic strip, Scott Adams is even funnier and more insightful than even many a Dilbert fan would have thought possible. He's been there, and he knows what he is talking about.In this bestselling book, Adams basically defines corporate culture; telling us many things we already know yet doing so in a fashion that is brilliantly funny. His explanation for the craziness of business today is a simple one: People are idiots, which is something I've been saying that for years. Adams includes himself among the idiot population. We all do stupid things from time to time, and those who do more stupid things than others wind up in corner offices with windows and a secretary while the majority of folks toil away in their sensory deprivation chambers (or cubicles). Adams explains the nature of this beast we call the workplace, illustrating his points with the help of over 400 Dilbert cartoons and reinforcing even the most seemingly inane assumptions he makes with actual case reports of real people who have written to him of their own experiences. The Dilbert Principle covers almost every aspect of the workplace: management, performance reviews, marketing, business plans, budgets, sales, those awful meetings, projects, etc. He shows you how to get ahead at the expense of your co-workers, delineates the lies of management so that you can be on the lookout for them when they come, defines modern terms such as downsizing in the simple, more direct meanings of days gone by. He describes the process by which one becomes a leader, exposes team-building exercises and group projects as the useless vehicles they almost always are, and provides advice on keeping afloat in the business world by means of hoarding information, avoiding doomed projects, and surviving those you can't avoid; from there, he goes on to offer his knowledge on topics such as: how to participate in a meeting based on the things you want to get out of it, and (as if most of us even need a refresher on this) how to avoid actually working while at work. The whole book is just brilliant, hysterical satire built on things millions of us know all too well, and one finds oneself nodding or agreeing with far too many of the silliest notions and business practices Adams rakes over the coals. The book is a fountain of knowledge, with each page containing terrific quotes along the lines of three of my favorites: 1) The best thing about the future is that it isn't here yet, 2) The great thing about the truth is that there are so many ways to avoid it without being a "liar," and 3) The only constructive criticism is the kind you do behind people's backs. If you are a Dilbert-type worker (and odds are pretty good that you are), you will find comedy and a sense of comradeship with Dilbert and his cohorts. If you really want to get ahead and assume the increased lack of intelligence needed to become a manager, though, you should pick this book up for one chapter alone: Machiavellian Methods penned by Dogbert himself.
Rating: 
Summary: A much needed parody with some decent advice hidden inside
Review: If there's a mascot for Internet users, it's the nerdy engineer Dilbert from Scott Adams' comic strip of the same name. No other character in the mass media combines the feelings of technological superiority and wage-slave hopelessness present in the lives of most computer users. But the play of computer users versus management is only part of Adams' comic ouevre; his hilarious take on everyday blue-collar workers touches not only on computer use in companies, but the combined forces of Total Quality Management, endless meetings, doughnuts, cubicles, business plans, and all the other aspects of working in a modern office. Although most of Adams' strips play on the plight of the nameless cubicle worker against an uncaring and oblivious management, he also covers the flip side of work where managers are unable to motivate employees beyond using the office LAN for Doom and the fine art of making sleep look like work. Given all of this familiarity with business, and the increasing popularity of business books, it makes sense that Adams' most recent book, The Dilbert Principle isn't a collection of Dilbert strips but a incisive look at the frailty and foibles of self-help management books under the guise of being one itself. Business books were overdue to move from the bestseller list to the parody shelf. What was once simply just a few "feel-good"self-help psychology books for managers like Stephen R.Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Kenneth Blanchard's The One Minute Manager is now a plague, including books like The Management Secrets of Attila the Hun and The Star Trek Guide to Management. What these books spend so many words doing that Adams deconstructs so brilliantly is to take what is common sense to anybody else and grafting the buzz words of business schools and management training on it. Take, for example, this wonderful bit of normal business communication that might have come straight from Management 101: "Perform world-class product development, financial analysis, and feet services using empowered team dynamics in a Total Quality paradigm until we become the industry leader. Take out the double-speak, and what you have is a mission statement that says: "Do the best work to provide the best product with the best people until we become the best in our field." Unfortunately, the first statement probably took ten people who get paid in the high five figures (if not more) at least three days at an exclusive resort in Florida to write. Even more than mission statements such as this, business double-speak of the nineties has centered around terms such as "downsizing" and "re-engineering". By putting a different spin on the timeless tradition of firing and re-organization, today's companies act more like politicians than producers. Ninety-five percent of Adams book is examples such as this, cartoons illustrating the examples, and email from Dilbert readers telling how their companies have fallen into the Dilbert Zone. All of this is great reading, although sometimes disconcerting when you see your own company being portrayed. The last five percent of The Dilbert Principle is Scott Adams' own philosophy for managers. He says, in the introduction to unveiling his company model OA5 (standing for "Out at Five O'Clock"), that: "In this chapter you will find a variety of untested suggestions from an author who has never successfully managed anything but his cats. (And now that I think of it, I haven't seen the grey one for two days.) ... I doubt that anything you read here will improve your life, but I'm fairly confident that it won't hurt you either, and that's better than a lot of things you're doing now." Although humble, his suggestions have much merit because they return the business of work to common sense. When a company remembers, as Adams suggests, that it has three main reasons for being (its customers, its employees, and its stockholders), and treats all three fairly, then the rest will fall into place. If all the management consultants and business book authors condensed their theories into brief summaries such as this, it would be tough to charge [amt]an hour and [amt] per book for it. Which means that there will always be consultants and treatises for the clueless, and an endless supply of material for Adams' cartoon.
Rating:
Summary: Another good Dilbert book
Review: For sheer humor, the Dilbert books and strips are great. The way Scott Adams is able to illustrate the insanity of many common business practices in a few scenes or sentances is incredible. On the bright side, because there are so many stupid things being done commonly, almost everyone can relate to Dilbert. On the down side, there are so many stupid things being done commonly. Relative to other Dilbert works, The Dilbert Principle is almost as good as Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook and considerably better than Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel.
Rating:
Summary: One of the funniest books I've read!
Review: Scott Adams has nailed corporate America. If you have spent any time at all working for a big corporation, you will find this book to be very funny. The comic strips are always pretty humorous, but what I found also to be very funny was the text in this book, specifically describing the various corporate functions such as engineering, marketing, sales, and of course general management. As a human resource director, I have often been referred to as "Catbert - the evil HR Director" (in a good way of course), by others who enjoy Adams work. The way he describes typical business situations, like the ongoing balancing act between engineering products and marketing them, is eerily accurate, and very funny. Unless you take yourself and your job way too seriously, you will not only enjoy this book but laugh out loud all the way through it. My only critical suggestion would be for Adams to stick to business related humor. When he strays from that into other social commentary it is not as impactful. Other than that, this is a great book!
Rating:
Summary: Sad & True, Dilbert embodies life of todays' office techie!
Review: I've worked as an engineer or technician, both for big companies and small. Before Dilbert, in all but the most restrictive environments, a small office underground poked the same kind of fun at management. Some offices even have their own cartoonists. A mega-sized company in Texas had a talented, cartoon artist, who did satirical office cartoons, with great caricature likenesses. He signed his work "The Phantom", and because I think even management knew who he was, he stayed restrained enough to keep it funny, but not too insulting. One possible exception, was a cartoon that mimicked the classic road gang movie, "Cool Hand Luke". He depicted an office corridor which as management walked by each office, they would say "Still shaking that work order there, boss". It did not go over too well with management. The Dilbert Principle is loosely based on the long discussed phenomena, called the "Peter Principle". Which I always thought means the biggest "prick" rises the highest. Usually it's the most unqualified as well. In this age we pay CEO's millions in salary, and then give them massive stock options. In return, they bankrupt the company with shady accounting practices, and sometimes, outright theft. You have to wonder if the term "business ethics" is an oxymoron. It's good that most offices have people like Dilbert, and we all have artists like Scott Adams. The humor allows many of us to survive the droll, office existence day after day. The unrewarding existence, of working in a system where incompetents profit, often on our good works. Prior to Dilbert, I may have considered myself unique, or just unlucky to be employed by some of these bozo's in suit and tie. I've been through the improvement meetings, sensitivity, and those focus groups. The "one on one" carpet sessions with my boss, which accomplished nothing, except to try my patience, and then waste my time. Still, management needs to feel they do something, and if it can't make a new report to show their own boss this week, it may be time to try out the latest management fad. Adams collection of cartoons, groups these into common categories of management tactics. If you look hard enough, you may even find a cartoon, that help you avoid experiencing the same Hell in your own office. It's too bad the managers don't seem to read these books, or if they do, they don't seem to be telling. Perhaps the most important thing found in The Dilbert Principle, is that it gives some of us a better understanding of what's really going on. Unless you're fairly astute, you will occasionally find yourself buying into a lot of management disinformation. Information, that could clue you into a "downsizing", a company sale, management change, or other "issues", that may give you reason to brush up the old resume. At the very least, if gives you a chance to know what's probably going on behind the scenes, and decide how to best keep your own house. Another thing that is uncanny about Scott Adams, is his depiction of the characters. It seemed like, the company I worked for in Texas, was chock full of those little balding management guys. Middle managers with overly short wide ties, and always carrying a cup of coffee in their right hand, as they walked about. They'd ask us about what we were doing, and when we told them they'd look confused, say something cleverly non-committal, and move on. It used to be a competition to see who could confuse them first, and move them on to the next persons office or cubicle.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Dilbert for any fan!
Review: I may just be a kid, but I am a big fan of workplace scenarios and, especially Dilbert. I read straight through this book and never failed to agree with Scott Adams's perspective of modern work life. The only concept I did sort of disagree with was the "hoteling" method. I think that if we are to rent a "thing" that we will be using for a long portion of time, then we should keep it. I have no problem renting a movie, because I "use" it for barely a eighth of a day. But to close my review, I agree with pretty much everything Scott Adams has to say about these common workplace situations. He is very funny when writing about these, and that it the reason you should get this book.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: This is the first book that I read from Scott Adams, and it got me hooked! It is funny, realistic, and flat out entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: What more can be said?
Review: This book is one of those "It's funny because it's true!". If you like the comedy of George Carlin or Gallagher, you'll love the comedy presented in this book. You might even think Scott Adams works at your office by the scenarios he describes and then puts them in a perspective that awakens the corporate-brainwashed employee to see the proposterousness of the current bueracracy of today's employers. It's very enjoyable. It's an easy read. It's definately a book to share with other 'working' friends. One of my favorites!
Rating:
Summary: I'm A New Meber of Dilbert's Cubicle Club
Review: I had read Dilbert comics before, and I had read the comic strip compilations avidly. However, I was a bit hesitant about this book, knowing that anytime a person strays from their field of expertise (think Shaq acting, Will Smith rapping, or Jennifer Love-Hewitt doing anything more than looking good), they tend to [be bad] at it (regardless of what it is), badly. Therefore, I waited to buy this for a very long time... I read the book, and was pleasantly surprised to find a wealth of Dilbert cartoons in it. The letters from readers are also interesting, especially since several of them are readers emailing him urban legends, with themselves as the protagonists! The only real down side was that there weren't enough Dogbert cartoons in the book, as he is a good consultant, dictator, etc. and happens to be my favorite character. As far as the writing goes, it was humorous, and it was grammatically complete, so it wasn't very bad. I have read deeper works, quite surely, but this was a fun read for a good couple of hours. I have already begun loaning it out to friends, especially business majors. :) Definately a buyer, and a multiple reader as well.
Harkius
Rating:
Summary: MyShelf.com Book Review
Review: Anyone who has ever worked in an office has probably heard the name Dilbert mentioned around the coffeepot. This highly popular cartoon character is the 'mascot' of every corporation worldwide. Dilbert is able to combine his many humorous office adventures with some of the toughest management issues, such as downsizing, performance appraisals and team building. Throughout the pages of Scott Adams THE DILBERT PRINCIPLE A CUBICLE'S-EYE VIEW OF BOSSES, MEETINGS, MANAGEMENT FADS & OTHER WORKPLACE AFFLICIATIONS, I found myself relating 'Dilbert" scenes with my own daily office experience. Like millions of other people, I am fully convinced Scott Adams works at my company. How else would he have the insider knowledge to feature Dilbert and his office mates in the same situation I have encountered each workday? For anyone looking for a view at what "real" life
is like on the inside, be sure to add this book to you MUST BUY list. This delightful novel would be an excellent Christmas present for anyone 8-80. WARNING: This book is damaging to your funny bone!
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