Fugitive from the Cubicle Police [Paperback]

Scott Adams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1996

A collection of comic strips from the popular series skewering corporate life features the antics of the deadpan engineer and his clever menagerie of talking animals, including Dogbert, Catbert, and Ratbert. Original.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This book is freedom for those who feel imprisoned in a cubicle. Called "the cartoon hero of the workplace" by the San Francisco Examiner, Dilbert is revered by technology and computer workers, engineers, white-collar types, scientists and everyone who works these days (in cubicles or not). This collection captures it all, from clueless management decrees to near revolts among the cubicly confined.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Andrews and McMeel; Original edition (September 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0836221192
• ISBN-13: 978-0836221190
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,090,147 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

What started as a doodle has turned Scott Adams into a superstar of the cartoon world. Dilbert debuted on the comics page in 1989 while Adams was in the tech department at Pacific Bell. Adams continued to work at Pacific Bell until he was voluntarily downsized in 1995. He has lived in the San Francisco Bay area since 1979.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Corporate America's Most Wanted..., July 22, 2003

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Fugitive from the Cubicle Police (Paperback)

Monkey: Evolution favors monkeys. Eventually humans will be kept in cages as pets...
Dilbert: Impossible! We humans will never allow ourselves to be treated like that! Now, get out of my cubicle!

Dilbert, the mainstay of office-life critical witticisms, is the concept of Scott Adams, who quit his job to write the column, using it primarily to exorcise the demons that haunted him (and, indeed, seem to haunt all in small-to-large corporate America) during his tenure as a mid-level office worker.

In his introduction, he says: 'I was doing some thinking today. But I didn't enjoy it very much, so I decided to write this introduction instead....'

Who can argue with this? This, perhaps in a brief statement, summarises much of the underlying philosophy of the corporate culture Adams presents in his Dilbert column. It certainly epitomises the prevailing attitude of the boss and management structure. And of course, being in charge of his own column, Adams has graduated (or, perhaps sunk) to the level of management.

This book consists of a generous sampling of Sunday columns (complete with colour -- OOOH! AAAH!) -- colour of course being a Dilbert-ian device to disguise the lack of information. Yet, the information here is timely and timeless (insofar as anything about corporate culture can be timeless).

Dogbert's entry into and rising through the hierarchy is a good case in point, where LOUD equals results. After securing a corner office with a window by being LOUD, a task force ripe for empire-building within the company, the budgetary control of his boss, he is invited, at the end of his first week on the job, to meet with the president of the company.

President: You've made quite a name for yourself in the week you've worked here.
Dogbert: It was easy to grab power, once I realised that other executives were just imbeciles with good hair.
President: I hope you don't think that of me.
Dogbert: No, that looks like a toupee from here...

Onward and upward...

Finally Dogbert becomes president, exercises stock options after a disastrous but stock-market-friendly series of initiative plans (of course, they only have to be plans for the stock market to react), and retires to devote himself to philanthropy, which is 'mostly about watching people beg, and having buildings named after me.'

We are introduced to Dilbert's co-workers, who are variously competent and stuck in their jobs, rejoicing the occasional tiny victories, or, more frequently, plotting grand schemes to gain the minor advantage (a few more inches of cubicle space, for instance). We are introduced to incompetent co-workers who get promotions and jobs in other firms with real offices and perks. We discover what kinds of women will date (and dump) Dilbert. Of course, that might have become a bit of a different problem had Dilbert's boss not been corrected in time...

Boss: My boss says we need some eunuchs programmers.
Dilbert: I think he means Unix, not eunuchs. And I already know Unix.
Boss: If the company nurse drops by, tell her I said "Never mind."

Dilbert does sometimes win after all.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good stuff, but redundant., October 30, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Fugitive from the Cubicle Police (Paperback)

I really enjoyed "The Dilbert Principle." Everyone should own a copy. Unfortunately, anyone who owns that book might find themself retreading familiar territory here. Many strips overlap, albeit sometimes the storylines are extended further in this volume. If you're a completist, get it; the strips are all good. If not, stick with "The Dilbert Principle."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scott Adams does it again., July 10, 2000

By 

Joe Finn (Chowchilla, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fugitive from the Cubicle Police (Paperback)

Another hilarious Dilbert compilation. With both color and black and white strips, this book is a must have for any Dilbert enthusiast. Complete with Dogbert's always insightful tips on surviving the work place, and Dilberts quirky ways of getting out of doing any work for his inept manager. This book gives a very disturbing look into corporate America, with Dilbert, Alice, Wally, Dogbert, Ratbert, Pointy Haired Boss, Catbert, Phil the Prince of Insufficient Light, Bob the dinosaur, Dilberts girlfriend Liz, and many more, this book is still just as funny after two or three readings. I highly recomend this book.