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Dilbert #20

What Do You Call a Sociopath in a Cubicle?

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"Once every decade, America is gifted with an angst-ridden anti-hero, a Nietzschean nebbish, an us-against-the-universe everyperson around whom our insecurities collect like iron shavings to a magnet. Charlie Chaplin. Dagwood Bumstead. Charlie Brown. Cathy. Now, Dilbert." --The Miami Herald

The former occupant of cubicle 4S700R at Pacific Bell seems to have made a go of this cartoon strip thing. What began as a doodling diversion that Scott Adams shared with his officemates has exploded into one of the most read cartoon strips worldwide.

This Dilbert treasury, What Do You Call a Sociopath in a Cubicle? A Coworker, brings together all of the office psychos who have annoyed Dilbert and entertained millions. This compilation pays homage to some of the most annoying and outrageous characters Adams' has ever drawn-characters he likes to call office "sociopaths."

* Edfred the two-faced man

* Anne L. Retentive

* Nervous Ted

* Loud Howard

* Alice and her fist of death

This full-color treasury reinforces everything that makes the strip great by lampooning the people and processes of business. Adams homes in on all the quirky coworkers that drive us crazy in the corporate world. He has fun at the expense of office oafs found in workplaces everywhere--creatures like the Office Sociopath, who listens to voice mail on his speaker phone, and the Exactly Man, who punctuates everything with a finger point, exclaiming "Exactly!" The result is a book that leaves readers knowingly rolling their eyes and, of course, laughing uproariously.

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 2, 2002

44 people are currently reading
135 people want to read

About the author

Scott Adams

282 books1,262 followers
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.

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5 stars
142 (36%)
4 stars
134 (34%)
3 stars
95 (24%)
2 stars
13 (3%)
1 star
6 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
Profile Image for Zain.
1,878 reviews274 followers
May 24, 2025
Sociopathic Fun.

Dilbert and his friends are some of the dumbest, most desperate people I have ever met. They get insulted repeatedly and just take it, day after day.

They let Dogbert, Catbert and Ratbert outsmart them every time. And the other characters in this story are all the same. Including their boss. I don’t know his name.

Dilbert is surrounded by sociopaths, like Alice and Wally. And practically every new person that is hired to work there.

My blood pressure would be 270/149 if I worked there. I would have been near death’s door. I would have quit a long time ago. To save my life.

But why they don’t is a question I ask myself repeatedly. It must be their desperation. Their lack of self awareness and self respect for themselves. Too bad they haven’t woken up.

Four stars. ✨✨✨✨
Profile Image for Judy.
599 reviews55 followers
July 26, 2023
As always, great! Takes me away from wherever it is I am for a little break of laughter. Recharging.
Profile Image for Andrew.
2,533 reviews
October 4, 2014
Like my previous comments about Gary Larson and his Far Side Gallery 4 this book has some very witty observations which having (and still working) in similar environments never ceases to amuse and amaze me. Ok I think in the past Dilburt has had been everywhere and at times over exposed but I guess that is as much a sign of its success as anything.
However this book contains a lot of very early works where characters have not been completely formed in to those you recognise today. However it is still a good read although here you do have to invest time in it - as they are comic strips rather than cartoons and in some cases running over several instalments.
Profile Image for Little Timmy.
7,330 reviews58 followers
January 23, 2016
We all might have started out like Calvin with a great view of life. But after hitting the workforce we all somewhat become Dilbert. Everyone knows someone like one of the characters in the strips. Highly recommended
Profile Image for Bryan.
781 reviews9 followers
September 20, 2013

What can I say? I love the Dilbert =cartoons and this book did not disappoint. Great as always.
Profile Image for Kevin.
Author 7 books13 followers
January 23, 2008
A collection of several choice strips from Dilbert ranging throughout the years.

Not the best Dilbert collection since it does range out of order throughout the years, however, it is enjoyable for anyone who likes Dilbert and/or office oriented satire!
8 reviews1 follower
July 15, 2015
A collection of comic strips that deal with associations between coworkers. Since the collection only includes those specific comic strips, story lines are not followed and sometimes you start reading in the middle.
1,505 reviews2 followers
January 23, 2016
I don't typically read my husband's Dilbert books, but I couldn't put this one down. It was like eating potato chips. I shared some of the funnier ones with my parents last night - the shrinking cubicles, and the chess cubicles.
Profile Image for T.
263 reviews
November 27, 2016
Good collection

This is a good collection of Dilbert comics. One fun thing about it is the book includes early comics from Adams, and more current ones. This lets you see the differences in his style over time. A good read for Dilbert fans!
Profile Image for Jaq.
2,207 reviews2 followers
December 21, 2018
A slice of history, coupled with the fact a lot of the behaviours are still occurring. Interesting take on the female characters, that had me uncomfortable at time. Was this really the way women were treated or portrayed?
Profile Image for Andy.
240 reviews10 followers
May 26, 2010
Borders bargain bin. I thought I owned all the Dilbert treasuries but did not recognize this one. Read it, but was mostly very old content and I'd seen 80% of it before.
Profile Image for Sadie-Jane Huff.
1,831 reviews10 followers
December 31, 2015
to round up... it's still funny but not as many laughs in this one.
he's still funnier and more relevant than most:)
Profile Image for February Four.
1,428 reviews34 followers
September 20, 2014
Love the comics, but this one had a few repeated strips, some right below the strip it was repeating.
Profile Image for Lea.
459 reviews6 followers
September 30, 2015
Sadly there are way better stories about Dilbert out there. Disappointed.
Profile Image for Erik.
322 reviews17 followers
October 2, 2016
Definitely towards the top end of these compilations. I particularly enjoyed the evolution of Alice, the long series of Ted strips, and the early days of catbert.

Overall a pretty edgy selection.
Profile Image for SKP.
1,132 reviews
October 9, 2022
I couldn’t give this 5 stars because a lot of the comic strips included in this book were also in an earlier Dilbert book that I just recently read. I can’t remember which one it was. However, there were also some that had me laughing pretty hard too. I suspect that Scott Adams has many workplaces bugged so that he can come up with material for Dilbert comics.
324 reviews
November 30, 2024
Ah, the cubicle days

For those of us that remember working at company offices with high cubicle walls this book makes a lot of sense. The humor is very truthful, and it was reality for many decades. Let’s not go back. Enjoy the humor, even if you’ve never spent time in a cubicle.
Profile Image for R Frueh.
89 reviews1 follower
July 17, 2019
Too many duplicates and strips out of order.
85 reviews1 follower
December 21, 2022
Typical Dilbert cartoons (Must control fist of death!). Funny and it can hit a little close to the work place at times.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews

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