Catch-22
Catch-22 is like no other novel. It has its own rationale, its own extraordinary character. It moves back and forth from hilarity to horror. It is outrageously funny and strangely affecting. It is totally original. Set in the closing months of World War II in an American bomber squadron off Italy, Catch-22 is the story of a bombardier named Yossarian, who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he hasn't even met keep trying to kill him. Catch-22 is a microcosm of the twentieth-century world as it might look to someone dangerously sane. It is a novel that lives and moves and grows with astonishing power and vitality -- a masterpiece of our time. - Back cover.
Stats for nerds
36recommend
88mentions
80people
2007–2026years
44% recommend56% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Asked Gemini for a list of books recommended on this page multiple times:
Top Recommendations
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Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman: Multiple users recommended this LitRPG series, particularly noting that the audiobook experience is exceptional.
Mother of Learning by nobody103: This time-loop progression fantasy appeared in several lists and was described as a "must-read" for fans of the genre.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller: A classic that continues to resonate, with several users discussing its humor and depiction of the human condition.
Other Notable Duplicates
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The Devils by Joe Abercrombie: Mentioned by three users as a top new release for the year.
- # Catch-22 (by Joseph Heller) - had been seeing it mentioned on HN (and other sites) for years, I finally read it and it was one the best novels I've ever read.
# The Universe and Dr. Einstein (by Lincoln Barnett) - recommended for anyone who is interested about Einstein's thought process that gave birth to two great theories.
# What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (by Haruki Murakami) - it's my first book from H. M. and I really liked it. It's kind of a memoir and made me like Murakami and now I plan to read his novels too.
# How to Build a Car (by Adrian Newey) - that famous F1 car designer... Great read. Gives readers a chance to glimpse into both (technical) thought process behind designing a race car and human side of it.
# Basic Mathematics (by Serge Lang) - not *reading* exactly, working through it (to brush the rust off of my math fundamentals).
- John Yossarian is the protagonist of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22[1], which was my favorite book in high school. Like a lot of people, my handle is a slightly embarrassing memorialization of my younger self :-)
- Yep. It's the ancient "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM" and "pick your battles" ideas. Everyone has always been amazed how powerful those can be.
Agreed, often enough these stupid "imperatives" are bad for profits, and even bad for the career of the top person who's kind of driving them.
Catch-22 is a good book to read, if you want to understand how large organizations work. You'd think it might be dated, but I'm not so sure. It's also funny.
- I read Erich von Däniken's Chariot of the God when I was 8 or 9 and eventually became incandescently angry when I eventually realised it was all made up...
On a more positive note I read Catch 22 when I was about 13 or so and I think that gave me some inkling that the world wasn't really going to make much sense!
- Moby Dick, Herman Melville
VALIS, Philip K Dick
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance + also Lila, Robert Pirsig
Naked Lunch, William Burroughs
Immortality, Milan Kundera
Catch-22, Joseph Heller (pair with The Deserters, Charles Glass -- In fact a lot of the stuff in Catch-22 is actually toned down from reality)
Mastering the Core Teachings of Buddha, Daniel Ingram (but ignore 80% of it)
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