I Sense a Coldness to Your Mentoring

Dilbert #41

by Scott Adams

Dilbert is the most photocopied, pinned-up, downloaded, faxed, and e-mailed comic strip in the world. Dubbed "the cartoon hero of the workplace" by the San Francisco Examiner, Dilbert has been syndicated since 1989 and now appears in 2,000 newspapers in 65 countries and 25 languages.

The boss. Everyone has one, and all of every boss's worst traits are embodied in The Boss in Dilbert.

In I Sense a Coldness to Your Mentoring, the ongoing torture that The Boss wreaks on his helpless underlings is played out in full. From a total lack of mentoring skills to clueless budget requests and pointless, mind-numbing endless meetings, The Boss makes office life for Dilbert, Wally, Alice, and his secretary a living hell with cubicle walls.

Genres: Comics, Humor, Comic Strips, Graphic Novels, Business, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

127 pages, Paperback

First published October 29, 2013

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

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's both painful and funny to admit how much I can relate to these comics. It seems like no matter what your job might be, it doesn't fail that you'll be surrounded by idiots, incompetent people, and assholes. And 9 times out of 10, they are your boss. I guess it's better to laugh about these things. Otherwise, you're likely to die from a heart attack or something. This is why I drink a glass or three of wine after work, keeps me healthy :)

[Hannah Belyea · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Pointy-Haired Boss holds many traits he delights in sharing with his employees, but little does he know the troubles brewing within the office as Dilbert and the gang attempt to outwit his plans of labour abuse with their own schemes. Adams will keep fans entertained with every panel of this delightful collection. Clearly there can only be one on top, and it all depends on who's willing to out-lazy the other...

[Rex Libris · Rating 5 out of 5]

As usual, another great collection of workplace humor from Adams. Those who cannot appreciate the humor of Dilbert have apparently never had a job.

[SKP · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am slowly working my way through all the Dilbert collections I can get my hands on, because I love Dilbert! I can always relate to them even though my work experience was primarily in libraries. I did work as a temp in offices too, and in a couple of workplaces with lots of cubicles and dysfunctional bosses. Now that I am retired, it is even easier to laugh at these books!

[T · Rating 5 out of 5]

(un) fortunately, this is still topical for the office. Fortunately, at least someone is turning our pain into funny (and income).

I loved this, Dilbert always makes me laugh. Definitely recommend you have a read and then get the rest. Us ants will get the last laugh...

[Kristal · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

Pretty funny and relatable! Only problem is, reading the book all at once makes it a little repetitive.?

[Cat Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dilbert comics are always funny 😄

[Caedmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, SO enjoyable!

[Melissa Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just comics, but if I'd snorted any harder my nose would have fallen off.

[Derek Ithen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say that I was fairly happy with this collection. I find many comic strips have a shorter shelf life than most newspapers realize, often not aging gracefully beyond their first ten to twenty years, becoming woefully outdated. (See Blondie, Beetle Bailey, Hi & Lois, etc.) Dilbert has done well despite this, staying fairly relevant and in-touch. The addition of a constant CEO character with his abnormally large head, his penchant for casually reminding his employees of his absurd amount of wealth, and his displays of utter sociopathy are absolutely superb.

Probably the biggest flaw I see in the strip at this point is the lack of true story lines. At this point, it seems that the strip is merely a different gag each day, with some jokes or "story lines" stretching two days. To me, this suggests early signs of the strip's aging. It's still a well done strip, but the lack of the story lines that were present in older strips suggests that these last couple of years may be the beginning of the end for Dilbert.

Overall, still well done.

[Popzara Press · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adams keeps his Dilbert train running at full capacity here, maintaining the strip's famous tradition of constantly upgrading the basic premise with today's hottest tech and gadgetry against the time honored idiocy of office politics - or just plain idiots. Tablets and smartphones abound, as do a never-ending stream of zeitgeist-shattering puns and cynical observations about mankind's ultimate futility that help keep this veteran strip anything but stale. Oh, and there's plenty of Wally to go around.

I Sense a Coldness to Your Mentoring: A Dilbert Book Review on Popzara

[Timothy Ferguson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I used to love Dilbert back when I was getting my business degree. He seemed the perfect antidote to my lecturers. They would tell me to my face that staff prefer praise to money, and Dilbert would point out that, strangely, executives who set salaries never gave them their wages back, in exchange for certificates of appreciation. On reading this, though, I didn’t really find it remarkable. It had no new insights, and the jokes were more a comradely “Well, we’re all in this together.” style of humor than actually funny. Hard to recommend if you are already familiar with the series.

This review was first posted on book coasters

[Marsha Altman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his best material. I think he had some decent stuff to do about the economy during 2008-2010, and now that it's sort of stabilized but more difficult for him to make predictions on as he used to back in the 90's and early 00's, he's lost a lot of areas from which to get material. I sense he's just sort of coasting now.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dilbert and friends never lose their edge. These comics are "up with the times" and are just as funny and uncomfortably accurate as ever! My favorite was:
Alice, I want you to collaborate with Larry.
Alice: And by collaborate you mean water down my brilliance with this dullard's brain flatulence.
She doesn't play well with others.
Alice: If I were a man, you'd call it confidence.

[North Richland Hills Public Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of the Dilbert comic strips, and it is classic Dilbert. You know, everyone has a boss. I read it when I want a good laugh, and want to be reminded not to take everything so seriously. A light, funny, & entertaining read.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

They are all 5 stars...Scott Adams must have hidden cameras....

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic Dilbert: lots of humorous moments, some so hilarious you laugh out loud and must share them with someone.

[Yehoshua Nachison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down the funniest Dilbert book to date. I was crying laughing. It's amazing how much Scott Adams' sense of humor has evolved! (Pro tip: read the intro by Adams. It's a doozy.)

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes it's scary how spot on Adams is. Eg 'any rumors how our boss is making decisions these days?' So therapeutic.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dilbert rocks!

[Narariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Includes Wally's robot and a number of strips featuring the CEO as well as just the Pointy-haired Boss.

[Tawnie Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this to my husband for his birthday and then read it after him. Silliness.