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Dilbert #4
Shave the Whales
Hot on the heels of Dogbert's Clues for the Clueless, this new Dilbert collection will be widely welcomed by fans of that attention-grabbing comic which appears in 175 newspapers nationwide. Don't miss incompetent, socially inept technohead Dilbert and his megalomaniac pet Dogbert as they try to not only survive in but rule the world.
128 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1994
10 people are currently reading
166 people want to read
About the author
Scott Adams
285 books1,307 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Scott Adams was a defining voice of the American white-collar experience who transitioned from a prominent cartoonist into a polarizing political commentator. After earning an MBA from UC Berkeley and spending years in management at Pacific Bell, Adams launched the comic strip Dilbert in 1989. The strip’s sharp satire of corporate bureaucracy and the "Dilbert Principle"—the idea that incompetent employees are promoted to management to minimize their damage—resonated globally, eventually appearing in 2,000 newspapers and winning the prestigious Reuben Award. Beyond the funny pages, Adams explored philosophy and persuasion in works like God's Debris and Win Bigly, the latter of which analyzed Donald Trump’s rhetorical strategies during the 2016 election. His career took a dramatic turn during the mid-2010s as he shifted focus to his daily "Real Coffee" livestream, where he combined his background in hypnosis and corporate strategy to comment on the "culture wars." This period of independent commentary culminated in 2023 when he reacted to a poll regarding racial tensions with a series of inflammatory remarks. Labeling Black Americans a "hate group" and advocating for racial segregation, Adams faced immediate and widespread repercussions; hundreds of newspapers dropped his strip, and his publisher canceled his upcoming projects. Undeterred, he moved his work to the subscription-based platform Locals, rebranding his comic as Dilbert Reborn. In his final years, he faced severe health challenges, including stage IV prostate cancer and vocal cord issues, yet he remained a prolific presence on social media. He eventually announced the end of his hand-drawn work due to focal dystonia but continued to direct the strip's vision. Adams’s legacy remains a complex study in the power of branding, the evolution of digital influence, and the volatile intersection of creative genius and political provocation in the modern era.
Scott Adams was a defining voice of the American white-collar experience who transitioned from a prominent cartoonist into a polarizing political commentator. After earning an MBA from UC Berkeley and spending years in management at Pacific Bell, Adams launched the comic strip Dilbert in 1989. The strip’s sharp satire of corporate bureaucracy and the "Dilbert Principle"—the idea that incompetent employees are promoted to management to minimize their damage—resonated globally, eventually appearing in 2,000 newspapers and winning the prestigious Reuben Award. Beyond the funny pages, Adams explored philosophy and persuasion in works like God's Debris and Win Bigly, the latter of which analyzed Donald Trump’s rhetorical strategies during the 2016 election. His career took a dramatic turn during the mid-2010s as he shifted focus to his daily "Real Coffee" livestream, where he combined his background in hypnosis and corporate strategy to comment on the "culture wars." This period of independent commentary culminated in 2023 when he reacted to a poll regarding racial tensions with a series of inflammatory remarks. Labeling Black Americans a "hate group" and advocating for racial segregation, Adams faced immediate and widespread repercussions; hundreds of newspapers dropped his strip, and his publisher canceled his upcoming projects. Undeterred, he moved his work to the subscription-based platform Locals, rebranding his comic as Dilbert Reborn. In his final years, he faced severe health challenges, including stage IV prostate cancer and vocal cord issues, yet he remained a prolific presence on social media. He eventually announced the end of his hand-drawn work due to focal dystonia but continued to direct the strip's vision. Adams’s legacy remains a complex study in the power of branding, the evolution of digital influence, and the volatile intersection of creative genius and political provocation in the modern era.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
January 6, 2021
It was great.
January 2, 2020
This collection of Dilbert comic strips from the mid-90s is dated in some respects, but a lot of the corporate and life-of-an-engineer humor holds up pretty well. Pretty enjoyable overall despite some storylines being a little flat or not having a better payoff.
July 21, 2014
LOL... from start to finish... no... no... no-sense... for engineers...
May 5, 2017
A 27 year old book and there's a strip on Delbert being bumped from his airline seat and one with Donald F'ing Trump!
September 17, 2019
A fun collection of the Dilbert comics from the 1990s. Some of the strips made me laugh out loud. Some of the strips were just enjoyable or relatable. Some were just OK. I did feel like the strips were a little disjointed when ones that went together got broken up by something else unrelated.
I’ve enjoyed the occasional Dilbert comic on and off and remember enjoying the animated series so it was fun to find a collection of the strips. I’m honestly not a huge fan of the dinosaurs and Dilbert’s interactions with his dates were really hit or miss but I love seeing Dilbert and Dogbert, or just Dogbert attempting to conquer the world.
I’ll probably try and pick up more of these in the future. Would have loved this even more had they been in color.
3.5 stars!
I’ve enjoyed the occasional Dilbert comic on and off and remember enjoying the animated series so it was fun to find a collection of the strips. I’m honestly not a huge fan of the dinosaurs and Dilbert’s interactions with his dates were really hit or miss but I love seeing Dilbert and Dogbert, or just Dogbert attempting to conquer the world.
I’ll probably try and pick up more of these in the future. Would have loved this even more had they been in color.
3.5 stars!
July 26, 2020
Kindle version is unreadable.
I love Dilbert! I do not, however, love a book that looks as if it has been badly scanned with no thought given to formatting. Pages are split and appear in landscape mode on a portrait setting. Obviously, this is the work of the Pointy Haired Boss..........
I love Dilbert! I do not, however, love a book that looks as if it has been badly scanned with no thought given to formatting. Pages are split and appear in landscape mode on a portrait setting. Obviously, this is the work of the Pointy Haired Boss..........
July 4, 2017
Dilbert is too too funny. Adams hits a lot of nails right on their heads. Compulsively readable.
August 7, 2017
Kvalitni stripy, ale na twkoveho Cavina a Hobbese to nema... ale to vubec nevadi, je to zabava zase z trochu jineho soudku.
May 30, 2019
Ik had een vertaling te pakken en de gebruikte beroemdheden waren vermakelijk uit de tijd.
June 11, 2020
Hmmm. Scott Adams helped me realize that all this time I thought it was "SAVE the WHALES" it was shave the whales....very cute play on messages.
August 9, 2020
Always fun
August 26, 2023
This was way funnier when I was 10
July 29, 2025
Thank goodness this Dilbert collection exists! Humorous comics in the workplace and at home, with occasional blind dates. Also around the end of this book is the debut of Ratbert.
March 14, 2017
I read this out of boredom. Mostly I am surprised, 25 years after the fact, that Scott Adams' essential douchiness is already evident.
Amusing in a sophomoric manner, with lots of "we're in on the same joke" mocking of the many stupid people in the world, this gets repetitive pretty quickly. Even more so now that we have elected Dogbert president and we don't need a comic strip to hear abuse in the service of humor.
Amusing in a sophomoric manner, with lots of "we're in on the same joke" mocking of the many stupid people in the world, this gets repetitive pretty quickly. Even more so now that we have elected Dogbert president and we don't need a comic strip to hear abuse in the service of humor.
July 24, 2011
Shave the Whales / 0836217403
"Shave the Whales" is what I consider to be the third "real" Dilbert collection, i.e. containing only cartoons that haven't appeared in any other published Dilbert collection and not one of the "re-collections" or "theme collections" that Adams is so fond of releasing, although of course my counting may be a touch off.
This collection contains strips from fairly early in Adams' career, and though several of them are quite funny, I'm not sure how well they hold up over time. There's a strong reliance on puns (as if the title "SHAVE the Whales" didn't clue you in on that), and a lot of Russian and/or Gorbachev jokes that seem very dated on rereading these strips. Some of Dilbert's adventures on blind dates, too, don't hold up as well as the more recent strips, and it's probably a good thing that Adams' moved away from his "one defining characteristic" shtick with the female characters in the strip and decided to let them become a little more nuanced.
I love the Dilbert strips in general and if you're really interested in collecting them all, this volume is a must for a home library, but if you're really just a fan of the office strips and the established characters, you may consider giving this early volume a pass.
~ Ana Mardoll
"Shave the Whales" is what I consider to be the third "real" Dilbert collection, i.e. containing only cartoons that haven't appeared in any other published Dilbert collection and not one of the "re-collections" or "theme collections" that Adams is so fond of releasing, although of course my counting may be a touch off.
This collection contains strips from fairly early in Adams' career, and though several of them are quite funny, I'm not sure how well they hold up over time. There's a strong reliance on puns (as if the title "SHAVE the Whales" didn't clue you in on that), and a lot of Russian and/or Gorbachev jokes that seem very dated on rereading these strips. Some of Dilbert's adventures on blind dates, too, don't hold up as well as the more recent strips, and it's probably a good thing that Adams' moved away from his "one defining characteristic" shtick with the female characters in the strip and decided to let them become a little more nuanced.
I love the Dilbert strips in general and if you're really interested in collecting them all, this volume is a must for a home library, but if you're really just a fan of the office strips and the established characters, you may consider giving this early volume a pass.
~ Ana Mardoll
August 14, 2020
Jestli špatný překladatel, nebo jen nemožnost některé vtipy přenést do češtiny, těžko soudit .. skutečně jsem se zasmál jen jednou:
"Máš někdy chuť udělat něco opravdu divného? Já mám někdy nutkání vloupat se v noci na poštu a olízat všechny známky"
"No ... to zas není tak divné ..."
"a pak zkusit jak dlouho vydržím vyset přilepený jazykem na zeď"
"Máš někdy chuť udělat něco opravdu divného? Já mám někdy nutkání vloupat se v noci na poštu a olízat všechny známky"
"No ... to zas není tak divné ..."
"a pak zkusit jak dlouho vydržím vyset přilepený jazykem na zeď"
March 15, 2012
It's early Dilbert - what can I say? Great stuff. This collection contains more strips that feature just Dilbert & Dogbert together, as some of the other main Dilbert characters haven't been introduced yet. A must-have for any Dilbert fan!
September 28, 2014
I like the old Dilbert. The ones where it's not always about the office. The office stuff is often good, too, and the more I work in offices the more I appreciate the comics. But it's the dinosaurs and Dogbert's crazy ideas I like best.
January 23, 2016
We all might have started out like Calvin with a great view of life. But after hitting the workforce we all somewhat become Dilbert. Everyone knows someone like one of the characters in the strips. Highly recommended
September 9, 2009
i'm s(h)aving the whale now, mother nature - so dont kick outta this world :D
February 24, 2010
Great last line: "Hmm... Love causes stupidity in lab rats."
November 3, 2011
Some light-hearted Dilbert silliness.
October 8, 2012
Hm. Early Dilbert not so funny.
April 23, 2016
A very funny collection from the early days of Dilbert. More outrageous puns and generally bizarre situations, but I am a big fan of puns so this was a nice little treat. Worth tracking down.
December 21, 2014
quite funny, actually
March 11, 2015
don't shave while reading this book, you might severely cut yourself while gigling and laughing.
July 30, 2015
Very entertaining. I think this used to be my Dad’s book, but I picked it up and found it quite funny.
December 11, 2015
very funny, dilbert is my favorite comic strip
April 29, 2017
I guess I prefer the current Dilbert. This seems to be the first strips and there is too little of corporate life and although some jokes made me laught out loud, most of the time I was at most midly amused.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews