When describing the power of the GNU Arch file revisioning system, its easy to overwhelm a person with its power, and give the incorrect impression that its a complicated, difficult system. Grokking GNU Arch, a presentation by Colin Walters, captures the true simplicity of Arch, by (in a matter of a few slides) describing how and why the system works.

If Java is your hammer, every problem looks like a thumb. --seen in a comp.lang.lisp sig

We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to lets its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. -- John F. Kennedy

This book started out with a lot of similarities to The Long Walk: man is sent to a Siberian labor camp and after a spell decides to make his way back to his home country, in this case Germany, on foot.

That's where the similarities end, and contrasts appear: rather then traveling in a small group, this guy does it alone; rather then avoid other people, this guy interacts with people all the way; rather then going south to India, this guy heads East; and contrary to the title, he ends up traveling by train, hitching truck rides, etc. He also takes his time about getting out of the country, and ends up running around with some sketchy characters; a few times i had to check that i was still reading this book and not ``Adventures of Huckleberry Fin.''

Overall a decent read, but not one that tops The Long Walk.