Yossarian had a problem. He was sick of flying combat missions, of continually being shot at and nearly being killed. In fact the War was driving him crazy and he was determined to get out of it somehow. Being crazy was not a bad thing, Yossarian reasoned, for there was a rule stating anyone who was crazy would be grounded. But then he discovered the catch - Catch 22. Catch 22 said that if Yossarian were crazy, he wouldn't have to fly any more missions, but since he was sane enough to know he'd be crazy to keeping on flying, then he wasn't crazy and would have to continue. It was some catch, that Catch 22. Joseph Heller's deeply serious, yet brilliantly funny story is one of the great novels of the century.