31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You gotta love duhDilbert's creator!, October 23, 2007
I don't know whether you have to appreciate Scott Adam's "dark side" to enjoy this book, but it helps. His dark side? His non-cartoon creations, whether business-related or not. Of these, they range from The Dilbert Principle to God's Debris. The TEXT drives the deeper meanings, and not the drawings.
In Stick to Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain!, Adams steals from his blog and looks at the world through his Dilbert-framed sunglasses. You immediately are transported to Adams' world:
"Thanks to hurricane Wilma, nothing has crapped on our Eyewitness News van for hours. Back to you, Bob."
"If I'm dumb enough to buy water, I'm certainly dumb enough to pay too much for it."
"And the one thing worse than a moron with an opinion is lots of them."
"Rule 472: Before you touch a monkey god's tail to cure your leprosy, make sure the tail doesn't have a little hole in the end."
This book is organized (?) as a series of short chapters, reading as a blog in that you can "feel" his timeline as Adams vacations in Maui, plans his wedding, and so on. Don't miss Hi Jean (p. 19), Try this at home (p. 36), Adopting (p. 55), and German cannibal (p. 120). You will learn about the Scott Adams Diet (p. 101) and the Albra Cadaver (p. 107).
The book includes Dilbert strips that didn't make it past the editors, and a surprising amount of political-social-ethical insights. For example, should inDUHviduals respect the beliefs of others? Adams gets serious...
"Many of our biggest world problems are caused by different religious views. But its not socially acceptable to even discuss whether those views originate from the almighty or a drunken guy whizzing on a tree stump. At a bare minimum, just to pick one example, either Christianity or Islam is completely and utterly wrong. The beliefs are mutually exclusive. Muslims believe all Christians will burn in Hell. Christians believe that the Koran is fiction. They both can't be right. (They could obviously both be wrong if the Heaven's Gate guys turn out to have it right.)" (p. 116).
Witty, humorous, caustic, satirical, sobering, scathing, insightful... expect everything from this book, because it IS another thought experiment.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
can't argue with the title, January 5, 2008
I love Dilbert, but after reading this book, I find I don't much like Scott Adams. By his own admission, many of these recycled blog posts were written in stream-of-conciousness fashion, often on a blackberry while waiting in airports and the like. That's fine for a blog, I guess, but no way to write a book.
The two stars I am awarding come mostly from the sections that are, ironically given the title, actually about drawing comics. When Adams actually discusses his work and the foibles of the syndicate, newspaper editors, and disgruntled readers, it's funny and fascinating. Unfortunately this stuff comprises only a handful of the dozens of short chapters. Elsewhere, when Adams shares his not particularly insightful observations about religion, marriage, politics, and psychology, he comes across as self-impressed, shallow, and sometimes willfully ignorant.
If you like Dilbert, borrow this at the library and skim for the comics sections. Otherwise, don't bother.
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