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Scott Adams (1) (1957–)

Author of The Dilbert Principle

For other authors named Scott Adams, see the disambiguation page.

198+ Works 32,311 Members 351 Reviews 40 Favorited

About the Author

Scott Adams, Cartoonist Scott Adams was born and raised in Windham, New York in the Catskill Mountains. He received a B.A. in economics from Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley. He is also a certified hypnotist. Adams worked in a bank for eight years show more and, while a bank teller, was robbed twice at gunpoint. He also worked for Pacific Bell for nine years and describes both jobs as "humiliating and low paying jobs." It was during this time, that Adams created the character Dilbert. He was entertaining himself during meetings by drawing insulting cartoons of his co-workers and bosses. In 1988, he mailed some sample comic strips featuring Dilbert to some major cartoon syndicates. He was offered a contract and Dilbert was launched in approximately fifty papers in 1989. Adams began working on Dilbert full time as well as speaking, writing, doing interviews, and designing artwork for licensed products. Dilbert is published in over 1,200 newspapers and has a hard cover business book called "The Dilbert Principle." (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Series

Works by Scott Adams

The Dilbert Principle (1996) 3,936 copies
Journey to Cubeville (1998) 1,074 copies
Casual Day Has Gone Too Far (1997) 941 copies
Shave the Whales (1994) 767 copies
Clues For The Clueless (1993) 656 copies
Don't Step In The Leadership (1999) 590 copies
Excuse Me While I Wag (2001) 331 copies
The Religion War (2004) 257 copies
Thriving on Vague Objectives (2005) 199 copies
Try Rebooting Yourself (2006) 193 copies
What Would Wally Do? (2006) 161 copies
Cubes and Punishment (2007) 109 copies
Work Is a Contact Sport (1997) 34 copies
Dilbert Turns 30 (2019) 24 copies
Dilbert : Excuse Me While I Wag — Author — 13 copies
Dilbert 10 copies
Alice in Blunderland (1999) 10 copies
Herbert och Hundbert (1994) 7 copies
Work-The Wally Way (1999) 6 copies
Dilbert (1995) 5 copies
Como enganar o chefe (1998) 3 copies
Dilbert: 2008 Calendar (2007) 3 copies
Dilbert Book of Days (1998) 3 copies
Dilbert: Computerfreaks (2003) 3 copies
Full-contact au bureau (1998) 1 copy
Dilbert: Sexmaniac. (2003) 1 copy
Cal 97 Dilbert (1996) 1 copy

Associated Works

This Is My Best: Great Writers Share Their Favorite Work (2004) — Contributor — 159 copies

Tagged

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Common Knowledge

Legal name
Adams, Scott Raymond
Birthdate
1957-06-08
Gender
male
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
Windham, New York, USA
Places of residence
Dublin, California, USA
Education
Hartwick College (BS ∙ Economics ∙ 1979)
University of California, Berkeley (MBA)
Occupations
restaurateur
cartoonist
novelist
Organizations
International Academy of Digital Arts and Science
Scott Adams Foods Inc (Chief Operating Officer)
Awards and honors
Reuben Award (1997)
Newspaper Comic Strip Award (1997)
Short biography
Adams is trained as a hypnotist and is a vegetarian. He is the creator of the Dilbert comic strip and the author of several nonfiction works of satire and commentary and business and general speculation.

Members

Reviews

Ridiculous. It’s a cross between a puff piece for Scott Adams and a political ad for Trump.
 
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corliss12000 | 7 other reviews | Mar 16, 2024 |
I learned a few things but just a few. I was overwhelmed by the distasteful content and it felt like Adams was simply apologizing and not calling it an apology but an explanation: "Don't blame me!"

Three big failings:

1) Too repetitive. Book should have been 100 pages. Maybe 25 pages would have been sufficient. I fault his editor for this.

2) I don't believe his thesis: That Trump is a natural persuader in a world where facts don't count. I don't believe anyone was persuaded. People who voted for Trump weren't "persuaded" but just voted for him on straightforward reasons: hated Hillary, shortsighted self-interest, racism, etc. None of these required persuasion.

I was also astonished by the author's own claims such as:
3a) He was dismayed by bullying of anti-Trumpers. (It was Trump that encouraging his people to bully.)
3b) He supported Trump because he believed Hillary would tax his personal assets. (He was willing to disbelieve Trump's statements but not Hillary's?)
3c) He disagreed with so many of Trump's positions and yet still ultimately went on to support him.
3d) He says that he and his readers are not smart enough to assess climate change and other issues that our politicians face. (That doesn't mean we should let them get away with spouting nonsense. We have experts for a reason.)

I've probably said enough so I'll stop pointing out the problems.

I have read several of the author's other books (and I'm not talking about his cartoons) and I like the way he writes. In fact, I aim to write using the same persuasive style that the author explains. But wow, that doesn't mean I agree with him or found his book enjoyable. Ugh. It was awful. (And yes, I did read the whole thing.)
… (more)
 
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donwon | 9 other reviews | Jan 22, 2024 |
Did not like the narrator of this audio book: he needed a dryer style, he was way too heavy with the sarcastic tone.
 
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jennifergeran | 2 other reviews | Dec 23, 2023 |
Some parts of the book, especially talking about his early career, is quite annoying. He says he is skill-free, but gets promoted and finally fired as he hit the diversity ceiling. I will leave them there.

Two things, I liked from the book:

Goals vs Systems: I understand, a goal, for example means, “reduce 10 kgs in the next six months” but a system will be, “eat healthy food and be strong and fit”. I really liked this concept, as you are living under a constant pressure of failure in a goal based approach, but in a systems based approach you keep learning what are all the healthy foods that you can eat, make the best out of the existing situation and keep improving. The journey to reach your destination in goal based approach can be filled with guilt and near failure, which sucks.

Affirmations: Say to yourself, repeatedly (at least 15 times), everyday on what you want to be and you will become that. This sounds like Alchemist-voodoo crap. Scott is also aware of this. He has mentioned a several disclaimers in his book about this. I find it curious and amusing because, this is what religion does to people in the name of prayers. Psychologists say that this is positive thinking and positive visualization. But it is a nice mechanism to stay optimistic.
… (more)
 
Flagged
Santhosh_Guru | 22 other reviews | Oct 19, 2023 |

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Associated Authors

Ellen Cipriano Book Design
May Yin Giang Cover artist
Sari Luhtanen Translator
Lisa Beth Cohen Cover designer
Andy Freeburg Photographer
Nancy Singer Designer
Gail Stampar Cover designer
Maxime Chavanne Translator
Peter Sparring Translator

Statistics

Works
198
Also by
1
Members
32,311
Popularity
#601
Rating
3.8
Reviews
351
ISBNs
635
Languages
20
Favorited
40

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