Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Based on his own experience and the stories of his patients, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. At the heart of his theory, known as logotherapy, is a conviction that the primary human drive is not pleasure but the pursuit of what we find meaningful. Man's Search for Meaning has become one of the most influential books in America; it continues to inspire us all to find significance in the very act of living.
(back cover)
Review of "Man's Search for Meaning" on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
"Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.... Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!"
Review of "Man's Search for Meaning" on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
There isn't much I can add about the effects of reading this book/essay. As I digested the horrors of the holocaust through the eyes of Viktor Frankl, a man determined to understand why humans strive for life despite enduring an enormous amount of suffering, I was struck by several thoughts.
The first, was how rhetorically effective his essay used a seamless integration of personal anecdote and thesis statement. I hardly knew I was reading an argument in support of logotherapy until the book was complete. I had never heard of Frankl's will to meaning psychology and I found it, well, meaningful.
The second thought that occurred to me was how I even came to read this book in the first place. It was honestly pretty random. It had been on my list of books to read, something formulated many years ago - so long I have no idea what inspired …
There isn't much I can add about the effects of reading this book/essay. As I digested the horrors of the holocaust through the eyes of Viktor Frankl, a man determined to understand why humans strive for life despite enduring an enormous amount of suffering, I was struck by several thoughts.
The first, was how rhetorically effective his essay used a seamless integration of personal anecdote and thesis statement. I hardly knew I was reading an argument in support of logotherapy until the book was complete. I had never heard of Frankl's will to meaning psychology and I found it, well, meaningful.
The second thought that occurred to me was how I even came to read this book in the first place. It was honestly pretty random. It had been on my list of books to read, something formulated many years ago - so long I have no idea what inspired its inclusion - and I decided to pick it up because it seemed the right length for my mood. Well it turns out my subconscious has been assembling a fantastic little seminar on the literature of epiphany. My recent sequence of books all constellate around epiphanic moment (or their notable lack): Three Pillars of Zen, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Charles Baxter's essay Against Epiphanies in Burning Down the House, and now this, a book that sets out to formalize the mechanics of epiphany into a system of psychology that starts with the assertion that humans are foremost driven by a search for meaning.
I'll need to write something more significant to synthesize the interactions between these books but it's all there. I seem to be in the midst of profound study and I'm only just now aware of it. Perhaps this is my epiphany.
Review of "Man's Search for Meaning" on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Victor Frankl's idea is not a new one, but his life experiences and his explanation of his logotherapy are moving and helpful. I don't know if he provides a completely satisfactory counter-argument to someone like Camus, whom I also admire greatly, and I suppose one's personal philosophy of life has a piece added to it every time another great philosopher is encountered. It would be presumptuous of me to attempt to summarize Dr. Frankl's life study and many publications in any simple way, but isn't that what the internet is for (besides pornography)? So here it is. Add the following three quotations, song lyric and Jewish myth together for an approximation of Frankl's philosophy.
1."A high station in life is earned by the gallantry with which appalling experiences are survived with grace." Tennessee Williams
2. "It is never by chance that one takes the dishonorable way." Albert Camus.
3. "The …
Victor Frankl's idea is not a new one, but his life experiences and his explanation of his logotherapy are moving and helpful. I don't know if he provides a completely satisfactory counter-argument to someone like Camus, whom I also admire greatly, and I suppose one's personal philosophy of life has a piece added to it every time another great philosopher is encountered. It would be presumptuous of me to attempt to summarize Dr. Frankl's life study and many publications in any simple way, but isn't that what the internet is for (besides pornography)? So here it is. Add the following three quotations, song lyric and Jewish myth together for an approximation of Frankl's philosophy.
1."A high station in life is earned by the gallantry with which appalling experiences are survived with grace." Tennessee Williams
2. "It is never by chance that one takes the dishonorable way." Albert Camus.
3. "The fact that life has no meaning is a reason to live - moreover, the only one." Emil Cioran
4. The lyrics to The Impossible Dream from the Man of La Mancha
Review of "Man's search for meaning" on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Humbling. Powerful. I wonder who I'd be if I'd read this thirty years ago? This feels like the sort of book that has a small window of opportunity for affecting a life: read it too young, and it won't really make sense. Too old, and by then you've found your own answers (if you're lucky) or still not get it and never will.
I recommend erring on the read-it-young side. It seems like a useful part of one's growing-up toolkit.
Review of "Man's Search for Meaning" on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
This book has held up well over half a century, tackling the unanswerable question with the authority and pragmatism of a survivor of four concentration camps. Of course I started it thinking "Really?", but it won me over with insights that feel immediately applicable to my own life, which I feel has been slowly shifting from the pursuit of means to meaning over the years. Don't get scared off by part II if you read it - that's where the practical information is.
Review of "Man's Search for Meaning" on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
The first half of the book is a bit rough (it details Frankl's time in multiple concentration camps). The second halve of the book is truly inspiring. I would go as far as to say that this book has caused me to change my outlook upon what is means to live with gratefulness and compassion in your life.
Review of "Man's Search for Meaning" on 'GoodReads'
5 stars
An amazing book that is both documentary and prognosis - Frankl's book is the documentation of an alarmingly positive psychology that was fine-tuned thanks to an alarmingly negative experience. Incredible read - important both historically and for the future.
Review of "Man's Search for Meaning" on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
A treatise by a Holocaust survivor who is also a psychotherapist. His take on existentialism seems to fit very closely with the beliefs I have developed since high school. The existentialists, as I was taught, said that life has no meaning beyond what you yourself bring to it. That's fine as far as it goes. What Frankl says in this book is that you MUST bring meaning into your life, it's one of your central motivations as a human animal. He saw this in the camps, and he describes how he found he could prevent prisoners from mentally giving up in the camps (an act which would swiftly be followed with a depressed immune system, a lack of hunger, and a swift death from typhus) and how this experience changed his thinking as a therapist after his release. If you are in school, and have become upset by reading Albert …
A treatise by a Holocaust survivor who is also a psychotherapist. His take on existentialism seems to fit very closely with the beliefs I have developed since high school. The existentialists, as I was taught, said that life has no meaning beyond what you yourself bring to it. That's fine as far as it goes. What Frankl says in this book is that you MUST bring meaning into your life, it's one of your central motivations as a human animal. He saw this in the camps, and he describes how he found he could prevent prisoners from mentally giving up in the camps (an act which would swiftly be followed with a depressed immune system, a lack of hunger, and a swift death from typhus) and how this experience changed his thinking as a therapist after his release. If you are in school, and have become upset by reading Albert Camus' The Stranger, this would make a perfect companion volume to that excellent yet disturbing book.
