Seven Years of Highly Defective People: Scott Adams' Guided Tour of the Evolution of 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!

The best part about this collection is that Scott comments on individual strips, saying what he likes (or doesn't like) about them or commenting on early stages of his characters' development. The strips are arranged (initially) by character, taking you through their changes over seven years. Some have changed dramatically, like the boss, who was originally tall and thin and now is short, rotund, and pointy-haired. Scott even explains the minor characters, like accounting trolls, dinosaurs, and generic co-workers. On their own, the strips would have been a good collection, but the comments by Scott Adams really make this collection fun.

Scott Adams' Dilbert comic strip is simply brilliant; Dilbert is the embodiment of the typical white collar working man. Other comic strips may be funny, but Dilbert personally connects with huge numbers of people in ways no other comic strip has ever come close to matching. It's really amazing how a single three-frame daily comic can say so much so well. I feel a particular affinity to both Dilbert and his creator Scott Adams. Adams' first job was a bank teller position, as was mine. I am also quite familiar with the whole cubicle phenomenon, and while my own work experience was never quite as dysfunctional as that of Dilbert, I can relate to and understand very well the types of management decisions, innovatively silly programs and campaigns, and team-building charades that take place in Dilbert's workplace. You don't have to be a cubicle veteran to "get" Dilbert, though, and Adams' humor is so razor-sharp and grounded in common sense that Dilbert's fans should be and are legion in number.Seven Years of Highly Defective People makes a great introduction to Scott Adams' brilliant comic strip. Not only do you get a sampling of Adams' best creations from the time of the strip's appearance in 1989 to 1996 and the publication of this book, you get a great introduction to the characters who share Dilbert's world. You can see the progression of the The Boss over time and marvel at the appearance and growth of his increasingly pointy hair, watch Dilbert's coworker Alice evolve from a nondescript female character to the triangle-haired attitude-laced pistol she came to be. Wally has always been Wally, but this guy makes any comic strip frame better and funnier just by lending his presence. Then there are the minor and not-so-minor other characters: Ratbert, Catbert, Bob the Dinosaur and family, Dilbert's Mom and never-seen Dad, the world's smartest garbageman, Phil the Prince of Insufficient Light, Asok the intern, Ted the Generic Guy, etc. My favorite character is of course Dogbert, Dilbert's dog who is constantly scheming to take over the world, creating some of the most amazing jobs for himself to aid him in his efforts. Dogbert gets to say all the things that Dilbert (and his author and I and many of us) would like to say but cannot even think about uttering aloud. Each significant character gets a little bio-type write-up here, and perhaps best of all Adams has included notes for the majority of the comic strips stuffed into these 250+ pages. It's fascinating to see how little things he did almost on a lark ended up becoming so popular that they had to be incorporated into the whole Dilbert universe. Even more fascinating are Adams' references to the many controversies some of his seemingly innocuous comic strip ideas met with. His comments on his own poor cartooning skills are also quite funny and, it would seem, true to an extent. Of course, Dilbert wouldn't be the same if it came out looking like a piece of art or a Disney-type

Seven Years of Highly Defective People is a marvelous Dilbert book. It exposes the characters, and how they got started. It also includes strips from previous books and Scott Adams's thoughts on the comics in his own hand writing! It's a classic for any Dilbert fan. You can find your favorite characters like Dilbert, Dogbert, Boss, Alice, Wally, Catbert, Ratbert, Asok the intern, Tina the Tech Writer, Carol the evil secretary, and many, many more. I highly recommend this book.

This book had me rolling on the floor laughing. Especially with the Dofbert section.