Dilbert 2.0: The Early Years, 1989-1993

by Scott Adams

Whether avoiding pointless meetings with the clueless pointy-haired boss or angsting over insanely impossible sales goals, meaningless performance objectives, and a mind-numbing cubicle environment, Dilbert and his fellow corporate victims soldier on, providing a humorous release for the great brotherhood of office drones. For 20 years, Dilbert has connected with the unappreciated, making one and all wonder, "Has Scott Adams bugged our offices?" In Dilbert 2.0, a collection of the strip's first 20 years, Scott clearly demonstrates that through the dot-com and real estate bubbles to the new normal, Dilbert knows that the stuff of work is really funny business! Now presented for the first time in a four-volume electronic edition! This first volume of Dilbert 2.0 covers the early years from 1989 to 1993 for the celebrated cartoon strip.

Genres: Comics, Comic Strips, Graphic Novels, Fiction

144 pages, Nook

First published May 29, 2012

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Adams was born in Windham, New York in 1957 and received his Bachelor's degree in Economics from Hartwick College in 1979.

He also studied economics and management for his 1986 MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

In recent years, Adams has been hurt with a series of debilitating health problems. Since late 2004, he has suffered from a reemergence of his focal dystonia which has affected his drawing. He can fool his brain by drawing using a graphics tablet. On December 12, 2005, Adams announced on his blog that he also suffers from spasmodic dysphonia, a condition that causes the vocal cords to behave in an abnormal manner. However, on October 24, 2006, he again blogged stating that he had recovered from this condition, although he is unsure if the recovery is permanent. He claims to have developed a method to work around the disorder and has been able to speak normally since. Also, on January 21, 2007, he posted a blog entry detailing his experiences with treatment by Dr. Morton Cooper.

Adams is also a trained hypnotist, as well as a vegetarian. (Mentioned in, "Dilbert: A Treasury of Sunday Strips 00).

He married Shelly Miles on July 22, 2006.

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I grew up on comic strips, Dilbert features humor that has always been a bit hard for me to appreciate; both as a kid not yet old enough to enter the workforce, and currently as someone whose job is not in an office. Still, the funny pages were a big part of my childhood, and, as long as they're humorous and neither political nor obscene, I can appreciate such media.

However, the e-book version I read of this compilation had serious issues. Not only was the lettering in the strips rather hard to read--especially in the Sunday color ones--but the pages repeated, and Adams' commentary at the beginning, though interesting, ran on for a bit too long. Plus, a few strips made fun of the Christian faith, and one even was a slam against former First Lady Barbara Bush; I can see why Adams got a complaint about the former, and censored the latter. So, like many comic compilations, this was a mixed bag.

[Terry L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable insight into the early years of Dilbert

I liked reading about the creation of Dilbert and the evolution of the strip into the favorite of cubicle dwellers everywhere. I have often wondered whether Scott Adams was working in disguise somewhere in the company where I worked.

[Kristal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad; some comics were better than others. Many strips were repeated in the book which should have been caught by an editor

[Georges Tormen · Rating 4 out of 5]

the birth of an artist and two comic book characters

Late, very late but now I know and I can appreciate Scott Adams, Dilbert & Dogbert. It is a pleasure to discover their universe!

[Henry Wortmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Comic strip History

It is an interesting read as how Scott Adams developed his strip, and cast of characters, recording the good along with the bad, to a successful outcome.

[Peter M.]

Made me smile

There were only a few comics I didn't get. Dilbert is hilarious, I just started watching the animated series too

[Ryk Stanton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly chuckle-licious

[dejah_thoris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I am reading this series out of order and as ebooks. I'm not sure if the real series repeats the introduction on how Dilbert began but the ebook volumes do, so you may want to skip that in subsequent books. As with the other ebook I reviewed in this series, the comics in this volume can be hard to read because Adams' style hasn't solidified yet, so expect a lot of zooming in, provided your software can do so. (Hopefully, if you're reading the paper version, you won't go blind as Adobe Digital Editions doesn't allow for enlarging of images in EPUB files.) Many comics reappear across the two volumes I've already read, which is kind of disappointing if you consider them as a set, but if you read each separately they do fit with the rest on the page. Overall, a good book if you want to know the history behind Dilbert and the many popular characters therein.

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of fun and a great way to spend a few hours .

This collection was a great way to get introduced to Dilbert. I have to admit I never read the comic in the paper. I was an art snob when I was still getting the paper . For some reason now that I don't get the paper I'm not as picky. But I have to say the cartoons in the yard really go with the humor. Great value.