With all the dire news stories about recession, layoffs and other economic woes plaguing the country, it seems fitting somehow to note that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the comic strip Dilbert, the ever-funny, ever-savage satire of life in the modern workplace.

Now his creator, Scott Adams, has written a book charting the history of the character and his own progress as a creator - Dilbert 2.0: 20 Years of Dilbert.

The 576-page book features over 2000 Dilbert cartoons (some never-before published) and comes packed with commentary and reflections by Adams. It also includes a DVD including all Dilbert cartoons from 1989 through 2008 (with a link enabling readers to download future Dilbert cartoons).

It is hard to believe that Dilbert, the comic strip character who embodies white-collar office micromanagement, is turning 20, but in that time the bespectacled, wry-humored little engineer has captured all too well the corporate culture that has come to symbolize the U.S. workplace and all its dysfunctions. (Recently in fact, Dilbert was fired — and then hired back at a much lower salary to do the same job).

In February, the strip’s dedicated website and home to Scott Adams’ blog, www.dilbert.com, received 1.5 million unique visitors and was one of the busiest of months in the site's history. One can see parallels between the recent meltdown in the corporate financial industry and the malfeasance, mismanagement and other themes explored in Dilbert. So how is it that we can laugh at the foibles in Dilbert's world, knowing our own workplaces may not be far removed from his? Perhaps it is because we see Dilbert in ourselves, frustrated by and caught up in all the ridiculousness of the cubicle lifestyle that gets played out every day in corporate settings large and small. In some newspapers, the strip runs in the business section rather than the comics section, signaling its spot-on ability to portray the realities of work life.

This is the first time I've told the full story of how I went from cubicle dweller to cartoonist. If you're curious about how the unexpected happens, my story is a great example," Adams commented.

Adams, the genius behind Dilbert, the most popular working people’s comic strip and cubicle dweller on the planet, is the busiest working syndicated cartoonist around. He’s been entertaining fans for two decades with his remarkable observations of the workday life. Adams has authored a number of Dilbert and non-Dilbert books - many of them New York Times best sellers, he writes a daily blog and recently launched Dilbert cartoon mashups on Dilbert.com (Dilbert was the first syndicated comic strip to go online in 1995 and is the most widely read comic on the internet and now the first syndicated cartoon to launch mashups). On a more personal level, Adams just overcame a serious voice ailment which prevented him from speaking for several years and through research of his own and working with doctors in an innovative procedure, he’s regained his voice.

For fun, he also owns and manages two restaurants in the Bay area. He’s married with 2 kids, a dog and a cat and is building a green home for his family!

• Buy Dilbert 2.0: 20 Years of Dilbert from amazon.co.uk

• Buy Dilbert 2.0: 20 Years of Dilbert from amazon.co.uk