Another Day in Cubicle Paradise

Dilbert #19

by Scott Adams

When Dilbert first appeared in newspapers across the country in 1989, office workers looked around suspiciously. Was its creator, Scott Adams, a pen name for someone who worked amongst them? After all, the humor was just too eerily funny and familiar. Since then, Dilbert has become more than a cartoon character. He's become an office icon. In Another Day in Cubicle Paradise, Dilbert and his cohorts, Dogbert, Catbert, Ratbert, and the pointy-haired boss, once again entertain with their cubicle humor. From bizarre personnel decisions to meetings gone bad, from schizoid secretaries to consultants from hell, Another Day in Cubicle Paradise provides a way to get all those darn comic strips off the breakroom bulletin board.

Genres: Humor, Comics, Fiction, Comic Strips, Comedy, Graphic Novels, Cartoon

128 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2002

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

[Mrs. Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Day in Cubicle Paradise is another book of very funny Dilbert cartoons.* Even if you read them when they were first published (~15 years ago?) there are bound to be some you missed and a lot you forgot, so the book is definitely recommended for fans of the strip (even though it’s a little on the short side).

* It’s impossible to “cite” wonderful observations from a book of comic strips, and anyway people’s idea of what’s funny differs tremendously. Nevertheless, I recommend a panel 74% through (in which lights are turned out).

[Miss Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Kogiopsis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite never having had to deal with a cubicle in my eighteen years of life, I have long enjoyed and often laughed at Dilbert cartoons. This volume appears to be mostly comics from 2001 or so, so there are some aspects of today's new comics missing. The one that bothered me most was the lack of longer arcs - maybe they just feel longer if you only read one a day, but I'd swear that there are six or seven strips focusing on "Catbert the evil HR Director" or something like it running now, and here all those unifying themes last two or three strips at most - not quite long enough for Adams to get all the potential humor out of them, and definitely not long enough for me to get tired of them.

Anyhow: funny, fun, and a quick read; not the best of his work, though.

[SKP · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read a lot of volumes of Dilbert books, but this is probably the first one I’ve read that didn’t seem to repeat half a of previous book. Because of that, this one was a lot of fun to read. Having spent some time in a cubicle myself over the years, I always suspect that Scott Adams bugs a lot of companies to get ideas for his comic strip. So many of the characters remind me of specific people I’ve worked with, or a boss, or maybe a situation I’ve experienced myself. Recommended especially for business people.

[Ian Higgs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Dilbert collection

Always an accurate reflection of office life and it’s absurdities and bizarre managers. Nice to know we are not alone and it is important to see the funny side.

[DOUGLAS J BERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

More a dork than Charlie Brown.

Good black and white artwork . The strips are laid out in horizontal or vertical formats. They can be downloaded and attached to your cubicle, if you haven't got anything better to do with your life.

[T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun ... as usual

More of the same, but often needed Dilbert sarcasm on corporate America. I enjoyed this book and would recommend to other Dilbert fans.

[David Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's Scott Adams with some classically funny Dilbert strips. You need to read this.

[Cat Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dilbert comics always funny

[Christa Maurice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always turn to Dilbert when I'm unhappy with my job and it always makes me feel better.

[Jon Hewelt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Three stars!

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luckily have never personally experienced cubicle life, but always enjoy reading Dilbert - a fun read

[Francine · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Heerlijk hoe ze hiervoor een plaatje van Bol hebben geript.)

[Victoria & David Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some comic strips should not be collected.
Individually, occasionally, they're funny.
But en masse, the shortcomings are all too readily apparent.

[Ryk Stanton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, it was Dilbert, so you already know what it's about. I don't know that there were any new twists or really laugh-out-loud moments, but there were some sincere chuckles. I enjoyed the book, as I have all of the others.

I was happy to see this book for just 25 cents on the Friends of the Library shelf (where people donate unwanted books to the library and the library gets a bit of money from their sale).

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

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

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amusing, as always. (Unsure of date read, could have been earlier.)

[Duane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great series in the Dilbert book series! If you need a laugh about your daily work routine, this series if for you.

[dejah_thoris]

A nice set of Dilbert cartoons. No commentary, so no major issues as an ePub, nice and easy to read without zooming.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Painfully accurate look at the cubical life.

[Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lolololololool. That's all I can say about it

[Christian West · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dilbert comics from around 2000-2001. Funny, but easily read online in the archives on the Dilbert site. Doesn't really add anything.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always entertaining

I find Dilbert both funny and a little frightening. The clueless pointy haired boss is sometimes frighteningly close too reality.