Parasitic consultants, weaselly stockbrokers, masochistic coworkers and the ever-present, evil-plotting pointy-haired boss' Welcome to the seventh circle of hell, er, the 22nd collection of Scott Adams" stupendously popular comic strip, Dilbert! Words You Don"t Want to Hear During Your Annual Performance Review updates loyal readers on the mind-numbing careers of Dilbert, Wally, Alice, the PHB himself, and an ever-expanding cast of walk-on "guest stars." In this installment, a cash-sucking "consultick" burrows under the boss"s skin, a not-so-grim reaper pops anti-depressants, and a lab accident turns Dilbert into a sheep"a transformation which goes barely noticed by his beleaguered coworkers. All the while, Adams takes his patented over-the-top but right-on-the-money jabs at the inanity of the corporate world. Dilbert"s fans are legion and loyal. They have purchased seven million cartoon collection books and counting. The Dilbert comic strip appears in 2,000 newspapers and in 65 countries in 19 languages.

Jargon-spewing corporate zombies. The sociopath who checks voice mail on his speaker phone. The fascist information systems guy. The sadistic human resources director. The technophobic vice president. The power-mad executive assistant. The pursed-lip sycophant. The big stubborn dumb guy. They're Dilbert's coworkers, and chances are they're yours, too. If you know them, work with them, or dialogue with them about leveraging synergies to maximize shareholder value, then you'll recognize this comic strip as a day at the office, only funnier. Since 1989 Dilbert has lampooned not only the people but also the accepted conventions and practices of the business world. Office politics, management trends, business travel, personnel policies, corporate bureaucracy, irrational strategies, unfathomable accounting practices, unproductive meetings, dysfunctional organizations, oppressive work spaces, silly protocols, and inscrutable jargon are all targets of Adams's darkly goofy satirical pen. Dilbert strikes a deeply resonant chord with fans because it casts such a dead-on reflection of the realities of the white-collar workplace, even with its off-the-wall delivery. Today, Dilbert runs in 2,000 newspapers in 19 languages, reaching 150 million readers in 65 countries. The 24th Dilbert collection, Author's Cut, features Adams's personal all-time favorite selections, along with his own handwritten commentary about the strips.

Scott Adams's latest work is not a collection of Dilbert cartoons (though recycled strips are liberally sprinkled throughout); it's a dialogue between the man and his fans disguised as a tongue-in-cheek guide to surviving the corporate life. There are chapters on "Office Pranks," "Surviving Meetings," and "Managing Your Co-Workers," with enough weird stories and practical jokes to make any middle manager nervous, especially as many of the tricks and tips come from e-mails sent to Adams by his fans (one tip: never let anyone else use your computer). If these messages are any indication, the creative tide has turned, and now the corporate world is following Dilbert's lead. In the office blocks of America, life is imitating art imitating life, creating a pleasantly postmodern working environment. The final chapter of The Joy of Work, "Handling Criticism," includes a response to Norman Solomon's The Trouble with Dilbert, which accuses Adams of selling out and supporting the corporate hierarchy that he claims to satirize. Adams's response is thorough and convincing, with just enough nastiness (jokes about Solomon's hair, for example) to demonstrate that although Dilbert may not have a mouth, he certainly has teeth.

Or should that be anti-business advice? Scott Adams provides the hapless victim of re-engineering, rightsizing and Total Quality Management some strategies for fighting back, er, coping. Forced to work long hours, with no hope of a raise? Adams offers tips on maintaining parity in compensation. Along the way, Adams explains what ISO 9000 really is and assesses the irresistibility of female engineers.

The breath-taking cynicism of the strip should prepare readers for the author's no-holds-barred attack on management fads, large organizations, pointless bureaucracy and sadistic rule-makers who glory in control of office supplies. Readers of the on-line Dilbert Newsletter are familiar with the kind of e-mail Adams receives from his readers -- and may even have sent a few of those missives themselves. Along with illustrative strips, e-mail messages provide excruciating examples of corporate behavior which compel the reader to agree with Adams when he insists that "People are idiots".

In Random Acts of Management, cartoonist Scott Adams offers sardonic glimpses once again into the lunatic office life of DILBERT, Dogbert, Wally, and others, as they work in an all-too-believably ludicrous setting filled with incompetent management, incomprehensible project acronyms, and minuscule raises. Everyone, it seems, identifies with DILBERT, who struggles to navigate the constant tribulations of absurd company policies and idiot management strategies. Syndicated since 1989, DILBERT appears in more than 1,900 newspapers in fifty-seven countries. DILBERT also appears in his own weekly television show, and on calendars, greeting cards, and Dilberitos.

Why is Dilbert such a phenomenon' People see their own dreary, monotonous lives brought to comedic life in the ubiquitous strip. In the 23rd collection of Scott Adams" tremendously popular series, Don"t Stand Where the Comet Is Assumed to Strike Oil, suppressed and repressed workers everywhere can follow the latest developments in the so-called careers of Dilbert, power-hungry Dogbert, Catbert, Ratbert, the pointy-haired boss, and other supporting"but don"t you dare call them supportive"characters. Each "funny because it"s true" scenario bears an uncanny, hysterical, sometimes uncomfortable similarity to cubicle-filled corporate America. But the United States clearly hasn"t cornered the market when it comes to drone-filled offices: Dilbert appears in 65 countries in 25 languages and in 2,000 newspapers. The strip has 150 million fans worldwide.

I'm Not Anti-Business, I'm Anti-Idiot is a marvelous compilation book featuring more of Dilbert's trademark humor on a sometimes dreadful subject: work. While Dogbert schemes to cheat gullible people, Dilbert struggles with his overly incompetent boss, and Alice is working around the clock on pointless tasks. This book also introduces Asok the intern. So join your favorite Dilbert characters on this oddessy through futile projects, idiotic management, and sarcastic co-workers.

Move over, Faith Popcorn! Cartoonist Scott Adams is back in book form, and this time he gives Dilbert and his cronies a free hand to forecast the trends that just might drive business and society during the next millennium. In typical Adams fashion, The Dilbert Future: Thriving on Stupidity in the 21st Century serves up a series of laugh-out-loud predictions on technology, marketing, work, jobs, gender relations, and even the future of democracy and capitalism.

Sometimes laugh-out-loud funny and always irreverent, this presentation deflates every ego in sight with a wry and goofy read by Dilbert's creator. The corporate world is his main target, but anyone--and everyone--is game. Self-deprecating and occasionally using material that becomes laughable only at the last moment, Adams is a tightrope-walking jester having a fine time with us and himself. True to his weasel roots, Dilbert never actually makes an appearance on the recording. But for a refreshingly original laugh-fest you'll want to share with anyone possessing a job or a pulse, listen and learn THE WAY OF THE WEASEL.

Dilbert has become more than a cartoon character. He's become an office icon.In this 19th collection, 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, In Your Cubicle No One Can Hear You Scream! provides a guaranteed recipe for success-and a way to get all those darn comic strips off the break -oom bulletin board.

The former occupant of cubicle 4S700R at Pacific Bell seems to have made a go of this cartoon strip thing. What began as a doodling diversion that Scott Adams shared with his officemates has exploded into one of the most read cartoon strips worldwide. Dilbert and his cube crew now appear in 2,000 daily newspapers and are seen by 150 million people in 65 countries. Adams' Dilbert comic strip collections, treasuries, and calendars have combined to sell almost 20 million copies.The sixth Dilbert treasury, What Do You Call a Sociopath in a Cubicle' Answer: A Coworker, brings together all of the office psychos who have annoyed Dilbert and entertained millions over the past 13 years. This compilation pays homage to some of the most annoying and outrageous characters Adams' has ever drawn-characters he likes to call office "sociopaths."o Edfred the two-faced mano Anne L. Retentiveo Nervous Tedo Loud Howardo Alice and her fist of deathThis full-color treasury reinforces everything that makes the strip great by lampooning the people and processes of business. Adams homes in on all the quirky coworkers that drive us crazy in the corporate world. He has fun at the expense of office oafs found in workplaces everywhere-creatures like the Office Sociopath, who listens to voice mail on his speaker phone, and the Exactly Man, who punctuates everything with a finger point, exclaiming "Exactly!" The result is a book that leaves readers knowingly rolling their eyes and, of course, laughing uproariously.

Some Dilbert books are funnier than others. This one is pretty much a mid-range Dilbert book; it was definitely better than some, but I didn't find myself rolling on the floor laughing as I sometimes do with some others. (Unless, of course, I'm just getting jaded, which is possible; after seventeen books, the style of humor is no longer as startling as it once was.)