Telling It Like It Isn't

by Scott Adams

In Telling It Like It Isn't, Dilbert and friends exhibit their mastery of the fine art of interpersonal communication (and miscommunication) in all its forms. With help from his friends, Dilbert packs this little book with big laughs.

Adams caricatures the all too familiar ups and downs of life in and out of the office to hilarious effect. From clueless management decrees to near revolts among the cubicle dwellers, not a single facet of the corporate world is spared Adams' deadpan perspective.

48 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1996

About the author

Librarian 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.

Reviews

[Gerry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw this little book on my shelves and thought I would have a laugh; I was wrong, it is mostly unfunny.

Yes, Dilbert shows his mastery of communication and miscommunication but not in a laughable way. The only cartoon and words that I found quite funny was the one where the Director of Product Enhancements asks his secretary not to use the acronym "DOPE" on the next print of the business cards. Explaining what his title really was, the secretary confesses to not knowing that was what he was ... obviously he was a dope!

Another mildy amusing one is that where Dilbert tells Liz how lucky he is to be dating her as she is "at least an eight", to which she replies that he is "a 10" and then elaborates with "Ten is the number of seconds that it would take to replace you."

Despite these two relative gems, don't rush to read it, even less to buy it!

[SHR · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bite sized Dilbert that is too short to be satisfying. Still some chuckles to be had and quick to read.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hardly big enough to count as a read, but what the heck. It's fun and has made me smile several times. I love Dilbert's approach to telecommuting, and the problems Dogbert has when trying to increase the emotional intelligence of a group of male executives.