Dilbert 2.0: The Modern Era, 2001-2008

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 fourth volume of Dilbert 2.0 covers the modern era from 2001 to 2008 for the celebrated cartoon strip.

Genres: Humor, Comic Strips

144 pages, Kindle Edition

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.

Scott Adams was a defining voice of the American white-collar experience who transitioned from a prominent cartoonist into a polarizing political commentator. After earning an MBA from UC Berkeley and spending years in management at Pacific Bell, Adams launched the comic strip Dilbert in 1989. The strip’s sharp satire of corporate bureaucracy and the "Dilbert Principle"—the idea that incompetent employees are promoted to management to minimize their damage—resonated globally, eventually appearing in 2,000 newspapers and winning the prestigious Reuben Award. Beyond the funny pages, Adams explored philosophy and persuasion in works like God's Debris and Win Bigly, the latter of which analyzed Donald Trump’s rhetorical strategies during the 2016 election. His career took a dramatic turn during the mid-2010s as he shifted focus to his daily "Real Coffee" livestream, where he combined his background in hypnosis and corporate strategy to comment on the "culture wars." This period of independent commentary culminated in 2023 when he reacted to a poll regarding racial tensions with a series of inflammatory remarks. Labeling Black Americans a "hate group" and advocating for racial segregation, Adams faced immediate and widespread repercussions; hundreds of newspapers dropped his strip, and his publisher canceled his upcoming projects. Undeterred, he moved his work to the subscription-based platform Locals, rebranding his comic as Dilbert Reborn. In his final years, he faced severe health challenges, including stage IV prostate cancer and vocal cord issues, yet he remained a prolific presence on social media. He eventually announced the end of his hand-drawn work due to focal dystonia but continued to direct the strip's vision. Adams’s legacy remains a complex study in the power of branding, the evolution of digital influence, and the volatile intersection of creative genius and political provocation in the modern era.

Reviews

[Terry L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny as always

Dilbert has endeared himself to office workers everywhere. As a now-retired IT worker and cubicle denizen, I can identify with Dilbert's exasperation, the assortment of wacky coworkers, and more.

[Ian Higgs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good collection

[Tfalcone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is making me snort out loud in places and is very relateble to my work :)

[Christos · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is that the introduction (30%) of the book is the same for all Dilbert books.