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Dilbert: Business #4
The Joy of Work: Dilbert's Guide to Finding Happiness at the Expense of Your Co-Workers
Egomaniacal bosses. Stupid coworkers. Boring routines. Corporate America has become a wasteland of tedium and soulless drudgery that just sucks the life force out of your body and reduces you into a mindless, stressed-out drone. No more.
It's time to let the creative juices run over -- Dilbert style. In this latest foray into the pre-posterous world of business, America's favorite cubicle dweller gives us a blueprint for rediscovering the joy of work that's full of tips for livening up the workplace at the expense of coworkers, stockholders, and civilization in general. Usually absurd, always funny, it is a timely, right-on-target look at corporate America that never fails to deliver gut-wrenching laughs.
It's time to let the creative juices run over -- Dilbert style. In this latest foray into the pre-posterous world of business, America's favorite cubicle dweller gives us a blueprint for rediscovering the joy of work that's full of tips for livening up the workplace at the expense of coworkers, stockholders, and civilization in general. Usually absurd, always funny, it is a timely, right-on-target look at corporate America that never fails to deliver gut-wrenching laughs.
264 pages, Hardcover
First published September 23, 1998
38 people are currently reading
827 people want to read
About the author
Scott Adams
281 books1,307 followersLibrarian 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
November 15, 2017
Hahahahahahah Hahahahahahahah Hahahahahahahah
July 7, 2013
Scott Adams autographed my copy. He drew a Dogbert on the title page. Love it!
June 2, 2008
After reading the Dilbert Principle and the Dilbert Future (both brilliant), I was inspired to read the next in the series. It was something of a disappointment. There are a lot of pearls of wisdom and humor in there. Scott Adams is an insightful observer of the human condition, a creative thinker and has a predilection for puns, which make all his work fun reading. But while the previous two were a bit Machiavellian at times, this one was often downright mean spirited. There can be humor in others suffering - that's the basis of slapstick - but this was often so cruel as to make it not funny any more. We'll call it the Yerkes-Dodson curve of humor... (hee hee... psychologist in-joke... yes, I know, leave the humor to the professionals... reading Dilbert books doesn't make me funny... I get it...) Anyway, long story short, if you're wanting to read some funny office humor, go with the other two books first, they're better. If after that you're not satiated, this isn't a waste of time, just prepared for a bit of cringing. On the plus side, it has some nice recommendations for April Fool's pranks - not that I would ever pull such things on my friends and co-workers or even instigate such behavior...
May 18, 2009
This introduced me to Dilbert Principles. I enjoyed the comic strips that I even bought the other Dilbert books and even got some calendars when I went to the USA. Some scenarios are very "american" though but mostly are funny and depict common though sometimes weird office situations.
December 1, 2013
divertente... ed incredibilmente vero! Spassosissimo lo scherzo organizzato (nella realtà) alla Logitech.
February 18, 2019
This was a cute read. Some outdated jokes here and there, especially regarding the technology at that time, but replace it with any modern device and the jokes still stand.
April 15, 2020
269 - 2020
October 19, 2015
Dilbert- The joy of work
Scott Adams understands office life better than most, a lot of ideas on survival are wicked and he has a knack of exaggeration which is extremely funny. There is also a lot of truth in what he writes, here are some truths
1) A meeting is essentially a group of people staring at visual aids until the electrochemical activity in their brain ceases, at which point decisions are made. Let's face it sometimes we sit in a single meeting for more hours than required
2) Nothing can reduce your happiness faster than an argument with an irrational co worker, one just can't reason with them. It's like banging your head to the wall
3) Creative people give ideas which could be illogical but would still make you wonder about the possibility, consider this "maybe we can reduce global warming by opening our refrigerators at the same time" , this of course is Adams way of explaining it
4) We have a knack of making things complicated, I said this when I wrote about Steve jobs and I say it now with this, here is an example by Adams
Complicated way of saying things : often in course of normal life, very bad things can happen to you for no reason at all. It is advisable that you not dwell overlong upon it
Simple way : shit happens
We do this everyday, we end up complicating simplest of processes.
I also liked the way he closed the book, he mentioned a little about his pet that passed away recently which was interesting because there was some bit of emotion in it while the entire book is probably based on how to kill your bosses, colleagues etc without using a weapon.(learning a bit of exaggeration from the writer). It's a fun book with random humor, highly recommended at you buy a copy.
Scott Adams understands office life better than most, a lot of ideas on survival are wicked and he has a knack of exaggeration which is extremely funny. There is also a lot of truth in what he writes, here are some truths
1) A meeting is essentially a group of people staring at visual aids until the electrochemical activity in their brain ceases, at which point decisions are made. Let's face it sometimes we sit in a single meeting for more hours than required
2) Nothing can reduce your happiness faster than an argument with an irrational co worker, one just can't reason with them. It's like banging your head to the wall
3) Creative people give ideas which could be illogical but would still make you wonder about the possibility, consider this "maybe we can reduce global warming by opening our refrigerators at the same time" , this of course is Adams way of explaining it
4) We have a knack of making things complicated, I said this when I wrote about Steve jobs and I say it now with this, here is an example by Adams
Complicated way of saying things : often in course of normal life, very bad things can happen to you for no reason at all. It is advisable that you not dwell overlong upon it
Simple way : shit happens
We do this everyday, we end up complicating simplest of processes.
I also liked the way he closed the book, he mentioned a little about his pet that passed away recently which was interesting because there was some bit of emotion in it while the entire book is probably based on how to kill your bosses, colleagues etc without using a weapon.(learning a bit of exaggeration from the writer). It's a fun book with random humor, highly recommended at you buy a copy.
February 12, 2010
This was an aweomse book. Highly entertaining and enjoyable at the same time, and the more you hate your job/workplace, the more glee you can take out of this book.
One of the best part of this book is the pranks; it gives you varying ideas of workplace pranks that you'd feel it a pity if you don't at least use/execute 1. But then again, you can always pick a few and execute them when it's your last day at work, and pick the more elaborate ones when it's your last day before retirement. For me, I'm yet to find someone in my workplace I dislike enough to prank, so I'll save them for future use.
It's written in such a way that sometime I wondered if the writer had even wanted to actually write the book or if an editor was standing behind him with a flamethrower... and then I remembered that this was the guy who wrote Dilbert, so the way the book sounded like it was written by (a charitable) Wally was a bonus.
Needless to say, if you're part of the upper management echelon you should not be reading this book, as to leave us peons with some joy thinking that you don't know the things we do behind your back. Probably.
One of the best part of this book is the pranks; it gives you varying ideas of workplace pranks that you'd feel it a pity if you don't at least use/execute 1. But then again, you can always pick a few and execute them when it's your last day at work, and pick the more elaborate ones when it's your last day before retirement. For me, I'm yet to find someone in my workplace I dislike enough to prank, so I'll save them for future use.
It's written in such a way that sometime I wondered if the writer had even wanted to actually write the book or if an editor was standing behind him with a flamethrower... and then I remembered that this was the guy who wrote Dilbert, so the way the book sounded like it was written by (a charitable) Wally was a bonus.
Needless to say, if you're part of the upper management echelon you should not be reading this book, as to leave us peons with some joy thinking that you don't know the things we do behind your back. Probably.
February 19, 2017
Like everyone working in technology, I love Dilbert, the comic strip by Scott Adams. Dilbert takes us into the world of the horrors of stupid, incompetent management and their evil and brainless schemes to exploit workers. Almost everything that Scott Adams writes can be found in real life – the clueless managers, the cliched mission statements, the unrealistic deadlines. Many aspects of the operations of a company (marketing, sales, management) are viewed through the eyes of sarcasm. It is unfortunate that Adams is so close to the truth because there are many people for whom this is the daily reality.
All the Dilbert collections contain varying amounts of Dilbert strips combined with the author’s take on various topics, primarily business management, but also others. Once you read one, the others have the same feel. Not that that is a bad thing, they are all an enjoyable (and sometimes thought-provoking) way to spend one’s time. One problem though is that comics generally lends itself less to subtlety and often caricatures can make a serious business situation seem less important than it really is.
All the Dilbert collections contain varying amounts of Dilbert strips combined with the author’s take on various topics, primarily business management, but also others. Once you read one, the others have the same feel. Not that that is a bad thing, they are all an enjoyable (and sometimes thought-provoking) way to spend one’s time. One problem though is that comics generally lends itself less to subtlety and often caricatures can make a serious business situation seem less important than it really is.
January 7, 2008
This book is funny. It has a few swear words; just want to make sure you're clear on that. It also has some rude humor and parts I neither understand nor have the desire to do so.
But if you can get past the iffy stuff, you'll enjoy the rest of the book. It has a section devoted to Office Pranks (I'm not saying you should do them, particularly on me), it talks about surviving meetings (some techniques of which may apply to school), and explains bosses and coworkers... I could go on and on. Once you get past the crust of rude humor, language etc. you will find a wonderful masterpiece just waiting to be devoured. Enjoy!
PS: Just ignore the picture of Dilbert dancing in his underpants.
But if you can get past the iffy stuff, you'll enjoy the rest of the book. It has a section devoted to Office Pranks (I'm not saying you should do them, particularly on me), it talks about surviving meetings (some techniques of which may apply to school), and explains bosses and coworkers... I could go on and on. Once you get past the crust of rude humor, language etc. you will find a wonderful masterpiece just waiting to be devoured. Enjoy!
PS: Just ignore the picture of Dilbert dancing in his underpants.
November 29, 2010
I first picked up this book hoping for a humorous view of the alpha-male, "baboon" society so prevalent in human political organizations (like corporations). In his trademark style, Scott Adams came through. From the very beginning, he had me rolling on the floor laughing, and I believe he even used the word "baboon" once or twice. But toward the last third of the book, he really began to shine, as he began to explain, in an ironic twist, how to stimulate your creativity, how to write funny jokes, and how to deal with critics. As the first part of the book, these latter sections were laced with healthy amounts of exaggeration and sarcasm. But a writer myself, I saw much sober, informative, encouraging truth within.
August 17, 2014
http://en.webfail.com/6c4dbf27277
Stealing someone else's book for a summer on-the-go read hasn't been funnier.
I loved that it took place years ago so that all the advice that was given about the fax machine and making phone calls should you be lucky enough to own a cellular device made it all the more funny :D
Thank you Scott Adams for being my first book of the summer and my first book that I read in a long time on my own choice and not because I needed it for school, for a friend or for a deadline of any sort.
Stealing someone else's book for a summer on-the-go read hasn't been funnier.
I loved that it took place years ago so that all the advice that was given about the fax machine and making phone calls should you be lucky enough to own a cellular device made it all the more funny :D
Thank you Scott Adams for being my first book of the summer and my first book that I read in a long time on my own choice and not because I needed it for school, for a friend or for a deadline of any sort.
February 10, 2015
Better than the Dilbert Principle. Much better. Actual useful aspects that got me to think about how I spend my life mostly working and whether its a particularly good way to live.
However.
The last third of the book is more autobiographical. Scott adams spends a lot of time giving advice basically to people who want to be Scott Adams. How to come up funny, how to keep creativity up, and so on. He also spends 10 pages bashing the guy who wrote a book to bash him.
This part isnt necessarily bad, but the book definitely lost its focus.
Sometimes he tries too hard with sarcasm.
However.
The last third of the book is more autobiographical. Scott adams spends a lot of time giving advice basically to people who want to be Scott Adams. How to come up funny, how to keep creativity up, and so on. He also spends 10 pages bashing the guy who wrote a book to bash him.
This part isnt necessarily bad, but the book definitely lost its focus.
Sometimes he tries too hard with sarcasm.
April 29, 2012
I remember the day Dilbert became funny...it was the day I started working a cubicle. A half-cubicle, mind you, but still a small corner with fake walls. XD
Either way, found this book on my Dad's shelf and decided to give it a read. I enjoyed it. Adams has a witty, dry sort of humor that comes out in his writing more fully than it does in the comic strips.
He's amusing, and I got a few laughs. It was worth the read. :)
Either way, found this book on my Dad's shelf and decided to give it a read. I enjoyed it. Adams has a witty, dry sort of humor that comes out in his writing more fully than it does in the comic strips.
He's amusing, and I got a few laughs. It was worth the read. :)
December 30, 2008
Scott Adams brings us a collection of the much beloved Dilbert shorts, fused with his experiences, musings and observations of a typical office. Although slightly americo-centric, Adams delights with the universal language of the workplace and provides us with a cornicopia of amusing advice I'd advise not to follow if you value your job!
December 10, 2009
A great guide to finding humour at work, even if it's not the sort of thing you're actually going to try yourself. Peppered with appropriate Dilbert strips and with a sprinkling of real-life anecdotes, Adams provides a wondersouly amusing look at office life that can't help but make any white-collar worker smile throughout.
October 25, 2010
Last year when there was book fair opened I bought this book because thought it was a comic book which it wasn't . This book was epic and fun because it has comic and some writing how to finish work positively and how to work happy and delight al the time while your working and other fun facts and know hows were in this book so I really enjoyed it
May 21, 2011
This was absolutely hilarious. THIS is what I went looking for (and did NOT find) in The Dilbert Principle. It was chock-full of Scott Adams' over-the-top analogies and side-splitting hilarity. Honestly, before working in any office, potential applicants should read this. The letters from his readers, again, were a little boring, but his writing more than made up for them.
August 9, 2011
This was a genuinely funny book which will especially appeal to anyone who has worked in an office. The cartoons are succinct, the premises ridiculous to the point of wonderful silliness and the writing true enough for office workers and managers, especially the competent or woefully administered, to read and go ‘ah, I know!’.
May 29, 2013
The Joy of Work is another Dilbert Business book and as with the others, it is fun and enjoyable look at the world of business and the office politics.
The book includes many Dilbert comics which add further humour to Adams observations.
I enjoyed this book and found it similar in quality to the other Dilbert business books.
The book includes many Dilbert comics which add further humour to Adams observations.
I enjoyed this book and found it similar in quality to the other Dilbert business books.
July 30, 2011
Even on the second read, this remains one of my favourite Dilbert's books. After reading the comic for a decade, there is not much novelty that I found on the first read but still a lot of laughs. Hopefully, will read again after another decade of memory loss!
August 12, 2011
Found this at our rented beach house. Starts out pretty great then fades towards the end...
Favorite: "Trying to win an argument with an irrational person is like trying to teach a cat to snorkel by providing written instructions."
Favorite: "Trying to win an argument with an irrational person is like trying to teach a cat to snorkel by providing written instructions."
June 28, 2012
I loved this. It was funny because it was true. Adams captures how every office worker feels and shed some humour on it. I have tried some of the techniques myself which was not as much appreciated by my boss and coworkers.
March 15, 2014
Well...what can you add to a book by Scott Adams. Like he says in the foreword, many of his supposed to be 'over-the-top' jokes keep on happening all the time in Organizations quite regularly.
A tongue-in-cheek take on the serious world of Corporate work. Enjoyable.
A tongue-in-cheek take on the serious world of Corporate work. Enjoyable.
March 14, 2017
It is sheer pleasure to encounter a book enlightening as well as entertaining, debunking all the nonsense in the process.
Ever since I first had read his first book, I became a great fan.
Scott Adams will be remembered as one of the greatest business gurus of all time.
I bet.
Ever since I first had read his first book, I became a great fan.
Scott Adams will be remembered as one of the greatest business gurus of all time.
I bet.
February 6, 2008
Tja, teilweise sehr schön böse... teilweise aber auch nur banal. Schon im zweiten Buch scheint sich das Dilbert Prinzip überlebt zu haben.
June 24, 2008
really funny pranks in this book
August 26, 2009
Pretty funny.
Read
October 9, 2009The Joy of Work : Dilbert's Guide to Finding Happiness at the Expense of Your Co-Workers by Scott Adams (1998)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews