To paraphrase an old soft drink commercial, "I'm a weasel, you're a
weasel, he's a weasel, she's a weasel. Wouldn't you like to be a
weasel, too?" Once we accept the fact that we are all capable of
being weasels (if we're not already), we can get on with our lives.
Such is the premise of Scott Adams's fifth book combining his
popular comic strip with a primer on office politics, DILBERT AND
THE WAY OF THE WEASEL.

We deal with weasels at work every day, from the colleague who
always calls in sick on the first day of the baseball season to the
boss who drops 30 files on your desk at 4:55 and wants them back
first thing in the morning. Adams, through his alter ego, Dilbert,
provides a light-hearted way to get through it all while
maintaining one's sanity.

For those not familiar with the cartoon: Dilbert is "everyman"
(provided everyman works as a computer techie in an office
environment). He enjoys his job and does it well, although he would
enjoy it a lot more if it weren't for the menagerie of lazy and/or
abrasive co-workers and his "pointy-haired" boss who can't seem to
find his head with both hands. Dilbert constantly contends with
familiar issues that get in the way of actually doing work, such as
status reports, countless mind-numbing meetings, expense account
nit-picking finance drones and teaching his boss how to plug in his
computer --- again.

Among the general topics covered in THE WAY OF THE WEASEL are
"Avoiding Work the Weasel Way," "Entertaining Yourself at Work,"
"Negotiating Like a Weasel" and "Weaseliest Professions," which
include executive assistants, management-book writers and
criminals. There are weasels to be found in individual departments,
too --- marketing, sales, accounting, etc. The author teaches all
the ins and outs of weaselhood, such as the proper way to assign
blame and how to deflect it from others.

Adams, a former computer geek in the "real world," has been hailed
as an expert on corporate life. Although he writes primarily from
the workers' point of view, he also appeals to the managers in the
reading crowd: "When you work for a big company, the only way to
succeed is by begging dozens of people to do the one thing they
hate above all else, i.e. their jobs."

He incorporates many of the anecdotes e-mailed by his readers, who
easily identify with his characters. Some of the missives reflect
situations from the strip, which eerily parallel their own
experiences, while others undoubtedly give Adams fodder for new and
bizarre scenarios.

As amusing as THE WAY OF THE WEASEL is, it tends to run on a bit.
"When I say 'weasels,' I'm sure you know what I mean," the author
writes on the second page. "But that won't stop me from explaining
it for a few hundred more pages . . . ," which he proceeds to do.
But there are so many situations to cover, it's time well spent ---
as long as you're not reading while you're supposed to be working,
of course.