DILBERT PRINCIPLE release marks anniversary.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 10, 1996--Release of THE DILBERT PRINCIPLE, Scott Adams' first book published by HarperBusiness, is scheduled for Tuesday, April 16 to coincide with the seven year anniversary of Adams' popular comic strip, Dilbert.

The strip first appeared in print on April 16, 1987. In THE DILBERT PRINCIPLE: A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads, and Other Workplace Afflictions (HarperBusiness; May 8, 1996, $20.00), Scott Adams brings his acerbic wit and sharp insights to bear on the fads and fashions of the modern workplace in chapters that are generously illustrated with strips from his wildly popular comic.

Distributed by United Feature Syndicate, the comic strip Dilbert is read by more than 60 million people daily in nearly 1,000 newspapers worldwide. Dilbert, according to Computerworld, "has outstripped Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes as the comic most often littering the workplace." Dilbert was the first comic strip to be made available on the Internet, and Adams himself was the first artist to publish his personal e-mail address along with his strip.

Drawing on his own experience "in the cubicles" as an engineer and on his vast e-mail correspondence with fans, Adams has consistently targeted the absurdities of modern office life; these strips have been collected in such volumes as Build a Better Life by Stealing Office Supplies and Always Postpone Meetings with Time-Wasting Morons (the latter was cited by reengineering guru Michael Hammer as one of is favorite business books).

In THE DILBERT PRINCIPLE, Adams takes on such topics as the hidden symbolism of office furniture, the dynamics of endless meetings, and the ten great lies of management. He gleefully skewers fads ranging from TQM to teams to reengineering and describes the basic insight of the "Dilbert Principle": the most ineffective workers are systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage - management.

THE DILBERT PRINCIPLE carries on the Dilbert tradition of revealing the seamy underside of the modern workplace; its publication is the perfect salute to the comic strip's anniversary.

This occasion also marks the kick-off of "The Dilbert Principle Trivia Game," a skill game played by e-mail based on the nuggets of wisdom found in THE DILBERT PRINCIPLE. You can win an original, matted and framed, Scott Adams Dilbert cartoon strip or gift certificates provided by Borders Books. Sign up to play by visiting The Dilbert Zone at www.unitedmedia.com or by sending an e-mail to [e-mail] before May 15.

CONTACT: HarperBusiness

Maureen Kelly, 212/207-7030

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