What do you think?
Rate this book
Dilbert #10
Seven Years of Highly Defective People: Scott Adams' Guided Tour of the Evolution of Dilbert
Since its debut in 1989, Dilbert has become the comic strip sensation, attracting fans from all corridors of working life. As Dilbert's popularity has grown, so has curiosity about the man behind the drawing table. Seven Years Of Highly Defective People is filled with Scott Adams' handwritten notes - notes that answer provocative questions such as, Which characters became unexpected "regulars"?, What objects are the most challenging to draw?, and Which strips became the biggest hits? This unique treasury is a tour of the origins and evolution of Dilbert's cast, and your tour guide is Dilbert's creator.
Each chapter chronicles a different character using selected cartoons (from previous books) to illustrate each one's development. Scott Adams tells where the characters came from, why they do the things they do, and just what the heck he was thinking during the creative process. (Our theory is he was just tired.) You'd have to be an "Induhvidual" to miss out on this special collection.
Each chapter chronicles a different character using selected cartoons (from previous books) to illustrate each one's development. Scott Adams tells where the characters came from, why they do the things they do, and just what the heck he was thinking during the creative process. (Our theory is he was just tired.) You'd have to be an "Induhvidual" to miss out on this special collection.
256 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1997
14 people are currently reading
535 people want to read
About the author
Scott Adams
284 books1,272 followersLibrarian 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.
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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
October 2, 2017
Noted.
No, seriously, this book is full of notes by Scott Adams, all about the comics. The strips are also grouped by characters, but I couldn't come up with a good pun to cover that.
No, seriously, this book is full of notes by Scott Adams, all about the comics. The strips are also grouped by characters, but I couldn't come up with a good pun to cover that.
June 10, 2018
This is a kind of "Best of" Dilbert. It includes material from previous collections but beneath each panel there is a note from the author about the strip or some element related to his work with Dilbert. It was highly entertaining.
May 24, 2012
Hilarious!
Dilbert is the signature comic of the cubicle generation. It never ceases to amaze me how an engineer who wrestles to keep his characters even looking consistent, because he is admittedly not a great artist, has managed to make so much of his strip. The reason, of course, is that he understands the climate and atmosphere of so many of us who walk the mazes of cubicles chasing the corporate cheese. He's captured the cynicism, the drollness and the other elements that help us cope with the impersonal affronts that greet us regularly.
If you have every other Dilbert, you may want to think before picking it up as it has no new material. It does however, have the unique arrangment that shows the development of so many characters. The notes themselves add an element that gives insight into the twisted mind of Adams.
Viva la Dilbert!
Dilbert is the signature comic of the cubicle generation. It never ceases to amaze me how an engineer who wrestles to keep his characters even looking consistent, because he is admittedly not a great artist, has managed to make so much of his strip. The reason, of course, is that he understands the climate and atmosphere of so many of us who walk the mazes of cubicles chasing the corporate cheese. He's captured the cynicism, the drollness and the other elements that help us cope with the impersonal affronts that greet us regularly.
If you have every other Dilbert, you may want to think before picking it up as it has no new material. It does however, have the unique arrangment that shows the development of so many characters. The notes themselves add an element that gives insight into the twisted mind of Adams.
Viva la Dilbert!
July 28, 2009
I love Dilbert. Seriously. When I had a real office and a real desk, I would decorate my cubicle (snerk) with cartoon strips. Dilbert and Non Sequitor were the main attractions.
This book is not only fun because it has so many strips I've never read (read that: all of them), but also Scott Adams has written under or around almost all of them, leading to fun facts that you'd never know about his life, and Dilbert's life.
Just NIFTY.
This book is not only fun because it has so many strips I've never read (read that: all of them), but also Scott Adams has written under or around almost all of them, leading to fun facts that you'd never know about his life, and Dilbert's life.
Just NIFTY.
July 21, 2008
I like the ones with Liz best, e.g.:
Liz started dating other men. Two can play at that game.
I will use the power of the internet to find a hot babe. Ah! Here's one.
She wants your credit card number. Ooh! She's inquistive. I like that.
Liz started dating other men. Two can play at that game.
I will use the power of the internet to find a hot babe. Ah! Here's one.
She wants your credit card number. Ooh! She's inquistive. I like that.
May 8, 2025
I started reading Dilbert as a young child. I was very confused. I started skipping the strip on the comic page because I didn’t understand any of the jokes. This book was helpful to learn the recurring characters and their personalities. I can see why this strip was so popular.
March 3, 2017
Very entertaining! Scott Adams's sidenotes on the strips add additional humor and insight.
July 28, 2014
Somebody gave me this book for Christmas a long time ago and I'm glad they did as I never would have thought to buy it for myself. I had often seen the Dilbert Comic strips but couldn't quite get into them because I didn't know who all the characters were and they seemed to be referring to things that I'd missed.
This book filled in all the gaps and answered my questions and I now know a Dilbert from a Dogbert and a Ratbert from a Catbert.
Dilbert is an engineer who works in a dysfunctional white-collar office. His cubicle farm routine is not dissimilar from those of millions of office workers as he struggles to cope with inept managers and surly co-workers. But unlike the rest of us, his world is filled with talking animals who live and work with him without so much as a blink from the supporting cast. His dog, Dogbert, wants to be supreme ruler of the world. Catbert becomes the human resources director at work. Ratbert, a lonely rat, just wants a home. Two dinosaurs try to conceive... Get the picture? It's all quite odd but when you read a book full of these strips, you soon become one with the Dilbert Universe.
What makes this book different is that it also includes comments from Scott Adams about how he came to create the characters and situations in the strip. His notations under the strips are not only as funny as the strips themselves but are a bonus for wannabe comic strip creators seeking an insight into the whole process.
This book filled in all the gaps and answered my questions and I now know a Dilbert from a Dogbert and a Ratbert from a Catbert.
Dilbert is an engineer who works in a dysfunctional white-collar office. His cubicle farm routine is not dissimilar from those of millions of office workers as he struggles to cope with inept managers and surly co-workers. But unlike the rest of us, his world is filled with talking animals who live and work with him without so much as a blink from the supporting cast. His dog, Dogbert, wants to be supreme ruler of the world. Catbert becomes the human resources director at work. Ratbert, a lonely rat, just wants a home. Two dinosaurs try to conceive... Get the picture? It's all quite odd but when you read a book full of these strips, you soon become one with the Dilbert Universe.
What makes this book different is that it also includes comments from Scott Adams about how he came to create the characters and situations in the strip. His notations under the strips are not only as funny as the strips themselves but are a bonus for wannabe comic strip creators seeking an insight into the whole process.
April 23, 2016
Well, it's Dilbert, so it follows that it's funny; especially if you work in a software company as an Engineer; which is exactly what I do. The author's handwritten notes add a bit of warmth to the book. I would recommend this to beginners and also seasoned Dilbert fans. Beginners because it is a good start, it introduces all the characters and has a taste of best bits by all of them. Old readers should read this because Scott tells you what he was thinking when he drew some of the comics and his motives in introducing some of the characters.
August 28, 2010
I love comic strip collections with author commentary. (See the similarly awesome The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book.) Scott Adams is a fun nerd with lots to say.
February 1, 2012
I'm only half way though this collection. However, I read probably what I think is the funniest comic strip I have ever read. I laughed insanely for almost 10 minutes. My wife timed me. Of course, I have the humor of a 7 year old.
October 2, 2015
While not a cubicle setting, academia is so similar to the cubicle-world scenarios.
June 7, 2016
Dilberttiä tekijän kommenttiraidalla: soveltuu mitä maittavimmin suht tuoreelle lukijalle taustatiedoksi.
November 20, 2018
No comic strip is more popular than Dilbert among the people that inhabit an office full of humans in order to earn their daily bread. No one is able to capture the wide range of frustrations among the office population as well as Scott Adams. Every strip that you read contains a kernel of truth, often negative, about life in the cubicle lane. Therefore, each collection of Dilbert strips is a treasure, humorous, but often in the darker sense.
What makes this collection much more interesting is that the strips are annotated with Adams’ notes regarding how he developed the character featured in the section. There is a section for each of the main characters as well as shorted ones for the minor characters. The book is a peek into the thought processes of Adams as he thinks through the evolution of the characters.
The first section that I opened to was the one about the pointy-haired boss. It was interesting to see that at first, the boss was bald on top but with a ring of hair. Only later was he drawn with the distinctive matching hair-horns. My favorite strip of all-time is on page 197 and is the one where the boss confuses “eunuch programmers” with “Unix programmers.”
This is a great book, many times, seeing inside the development of humor can reduce the level of effectiveness. Here, the insight into the jokes enhances them considerably.
What makes this collection much more interesting is that the strips are annotated with Adams’ notes regarding how he developed the character featured in the section. There is a section for each of the main characters as well as shorted ones for the minor characters. The book is a peek into the thought processes of Adams as he thinks through the evolution of the characters.
The first section that I opened to was the one about the pointy-haired boss. It was interesting to see that at first, the boss was bald on top but with a ring of hair. Only later was he drawn with the distinctive matching hair-horns. My favorite strip of all-time is on page 197 and is the one where the boss confuses “eunuch programmers” with “Unix programmers.”
This is a great book, many times, seeing inside the development of humor can reduce the level of effectiveness. Here, the insight into the jokes enhances them considerably.
February 1, 2019
This 1997 collection and commentary of 7 years of Dilbert comic strips by author Scott Adams follows the beginning of his career. Dilbert essentially lampoons office cubicle life and misguided management edicts. An item of note in January, 2019 is that in a 1991 cartoon one of the choices for "most feared and hated creature on earth" was Donald Trump. A funny book.
741.56 Dilbert series - Scott Adams' guided tour of the evolution of Dilbert. A scrapbook traces the development of the comic strip about life in corporate America, including the creator's thoughts about the formation of his character's lives and personalities.
741.56 Dilbert series - Scott Adams' guided tour of the evolution of Dilbert. A scrapbook traces the development of the comic strip about life in corporate America, including the creator's thoughts about the formation of his character's lives and personalities.
February 21, 2019
I'm not sure that I'm a huge Dilbert fan but I like the strip well enough. What attracted me to this book though were the additional annotations and comments by Scott Adams. These add a useful extra dimension to the strips and give you an insight into his thought processes.
That said I was surprised at how average some of the actual strips are! Scott Adams can't really draw, which he acknowledges, and quite a few of the jokes are pretty mediocre. Still he's created an interesting world and most of the characters are pretty great. Perhaps he's just suffering from having to churn out a strip day after day?
That said I was surprised at how average some of the actual strips are! Scott Adams can't really draw, which he acknowledges, and quite a few of the jokes are pretty mediocre. Still he's created an interesting world and most of the characters are pretty great. Perhaps he's just suffering from having to churn out a strip day after day?
August 22, 2021
Seven Years of Highly Defective People was an inside view of what was going through Scott Adams' head when he penned various Dilbert comics. Part of what is taking away from my rating is that I liked some comments as they were insightful and funny, but others left me scratching me head.
I don't typically read daily newspapers, so I don't follow Dilbert regularly. I have a couple of other Dilbert books on my shelf that I'm looking forward to getting into.
Overall, the book was fairly entertaining and I enjoyed learning what inspired the various characters. It was generally worth the time spent reading it.
I don't typically read daily newspapers, so I don't follow Dilbert regularly. I have a couple of other Dilbert books on my shelf that I'm looking forward to getting into.
Overall, the book was fairly entertaining and I enjoyed learning what inspired the various characters. It was generally worth the time spent reading it.
January 21, 2025
I have always been a big fan of Dilbert. Not all the comics hit home, but many hit my funny bone big time. I read this book a long time ago and am revisiting. One can't read this non-stop but need to absorb it in tiny bites. Much more effective that way. It had a nice added touch of getting Adam's feedback about why and how he created some of his characters with maybe some lame comments about specific comics. And I love Dogbert!
June 5, 2017
Even though not all of the humor is exactly my personal taste, I did heartily enjoy this book. It provided a lot of laughs and was fun to pick up for a few minutes of reading at a time, without requiring continuity.
It's Scott Adams' "Guided Tour" that really makes this a gem; his comments penned in the margins are often even funnier than the comic strips themselves.
It's Scott Adams' "Guided Tour" that really makes this a gem; his comments penned in the margins are often even funnier than the comic strips themselves.
October 4, 2024
Another entertaining Dilbert book. This book is a retrospective, with a section for each of the main characters that includes a short discussion of topics such as where they originally came from, or how their appearance changed over time. There are also author's comments next to some of the strips.
May 21, 2017
Dilbert will probably always be funny. What made this collection so nice, though, was that Scott Adams included his own commentary about characters and situations, so we could "get into his head" and see what he was thinking when he designed certain characters or wrote about certain situations.
February 7, 2018
Dilbert knows too much about working in offices. In this book he discusses the strips he creates. Who would know the politics of writing/drawing a comic strip? It also amazes me that I've read a hardcover Dilbert book. Very good.
July 20, 2020
I had forgotten how much I enjoyed Dilbert. This was nice to visit. The technology being dated or the “inventions” he got right is fun. Plus the commentary since this was an anniversary collection of sorts was extra enjoyable and insightful.
October 24, 2020
Pulled this out and reread it after many years. So many strips are still so relevant that I had the urge to photocopy them and send them to people at work - LOL! Great way to spend a couple of afternoons, and I like the collections that have comments and backstory by the authors.
June 27, 2025
Seven Years of Highly Defective People is a perfect collection by Scott Adams for his comic strip, Dilbert. Readers learn more about the individual characters and get to see background information that relates to each. I'm glad I own this, I've read it so many times, it's that great.
February 8, 2017
The hand written notes by Scott Adams on the origins and evolution of Dilbert's cast ( Asok, PHB, Alice ,Wally etc ) are an added bonus to the wonderful cartoon strips.
January 10, 2018
I had a lot of fun reading this.
May 1, 2018
After all these years it was great to see the evolution of these characters and I learned the correct pronunciation of Asok.
August 27, 2018
Funny.
May 17, 2020
I enjoyed the author's context provided in the margins for his characters and where we was going with various comic strips. This was a perfect summary of the cast of dilbert.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews