Name: Man's Search for Meaning
Rating: 4.295793758480325 (737 reviews)
ISBN: 9780807000007

Viktor E. Frankl

A prominent Viennese psychiatrist recounts his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp that led to the development of his existentialist approach to psychotherapy.

Man's Search for Meaning

This author'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, he argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward. 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. This book 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.

Ans Rizwan

The first part was phenomenal, the second was theoretical and kinda mucho texto

Mans Search for Meaning

Helps to see light when you feel lost in the tunnel of life.

Raadeem Pierre

Classic Editions

The author shares his experience surviving the holocaust, and his learnings about logotherapy. Where psychotherapy aims to resolves deep conflicts and emotions, logotherapy focuses on finding meaning in life (even during the tough periods). Good read but took some time to digest.

Natasha Mok

Timeo Williams

The first half details his experience in a concentration camp. The second part is his life afterwards diagnosing individuals and his experience thereof.

Viennese psychiatrist tells his grim experiences in a German concentration camp which led him to logotherapy, an existential method of psychiatry.

elizabeth

It's an awfully short book to dig into the meaning of life, but I'll make it even shorter for you with a quick excerpt:

"We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfil the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual."

I think I mostly like the conclusions Frankl reaches, and I have no business saying he's wrong about anything; in fact, I pretty much just have an aversion to the idea that life is oriented toward any "right answer."

The first part of the book is a sort of memoir and it's super emotionally impactful, while the second half of the book on logotherapy becomes more philosophical.

I could see this being deeply impactful when assigned to high school students or something--I feel like it would've been pretty life-changey to me as a teenager.

Ankit Panchal

Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue.

Must read!

siegs

pretty dark and depressing at times, but a real taste of the environment and psychology one man went through during the holocaust. definitely good for perspective building.

Something that I would read over and over again. I appreciate that it's a short book yet has lots of gems in it. 

I can see myself picking this up every year as a way to reflect and reconnect with myself.

Ali Angco

Something that I would read over and over again. I appreciate that it's a short book yet has lots of gems in it. 

I can see myself picking this up every year as a way to reflect and reconnect with myself.

ahmed

My 2nd read at the start of the new year.
I should probably try to read a 3rd time next year, maybe.
The mix of the human experience, the perspective of a psychiatrist and Logotherapy is worth going over couple of times.

Rithwik Jayasimha

I discovered this book during a particularly low point in my life, while I was dealing with quite a few things, really, a point when I felt lost and quite alone in life. This book has had an impact on me in a highly unorthodox way—by putting things into perspective, against the backplane of one of the most tragic events in human history.
In a truly perverse manner, Frankl's writing takes a 'show rather than tell' approach—and what a story it tells. The singular truth you will take away is a realization that the only way to make it through the bleakest moments of your existence is to seek out a reason to be, for with one, you can find almost any way to endure the how. However obvious that may seem (and it is,really) the baggage that this book comes with provides ample study for you to mentally simulate and draw parallels with yourself.
This is not the first account of the Holocaust that I've read, but in a way, it has been the most raw—told from the perspective of a former victim, life becomes a cruel game of luck. The whimsical, utterly senseless nature of the events, each reconstructed with a scientific detachment, each have a deep lesson that comes with the shock that accompanies.
To find the strength, the resolve to persevere and find a meaning in life through it all is as much a lesson to humanity as it is a testament to the incredible strength these survivors possessed, to not just survive, but find a meaning to life that kept them going. 

In conclusion, this is perhaps one of the few books you can go into with expectations and still come away stunned—maybe even reeling from what you discover not just about man, but yourself.

Joshua Edward Gibson-Altrock

A powerful story of the way our response to life may hold the meaning we are searching for in that life. This book also contains some of the most heart-wrenching love stories I have ever read. It is an eloquent reminder of both the atrocities and immense courage that occupied the death camps of WWII. 

My favorite quotes and excerpts: 

"I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved." - p. 37

"...everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." - p. 66

"The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity - even under the most difficult circumstances - to add a deeper meaning to his life." - p. 67

"Suffering had become a task on which we did not want to turn our backs. We had realized its hidden opportunities for achievement..." - p. 78 

"Once, an elderly general practitioner consulted me because of his severe depression. He could not overcome the loss of his wife... [I] confronted him with the question, "What would have happened, Doctor, if you had died first, and your wife would have had to survive you?" "Oh," he said, "for her this would have been terrible..." "You see, Doctor, such a suffering has been spared her, and it was you who have spared her this suffering." - p. 112-113

El Hombre En Busca del Sentido

Marga Camps

Fácil de leer y con la parte experiencial de los campos de concentración que convierte su explicación en muchísimo más completa y entendible de donde sale. Te hace conectar mucho más.

The longer I wait to write a review, the more the book has impacted me. I feel like my subconscious is still working through the stories and concepts in this book.

The two main parts of the book — the anecdotes and analyses from the concentration camps, and the development of logotherapy partially as a result of the former — served different purposes for me.

I've read several books that try to elucidate the horrors and sorrows of Auschwitz. They're emotive and have a story arch. This works to draw readers in and allow them to settle into the setting. But I enjoyed how analytical Man's Search for Meaning was. It used examples to support the main arguments which were about how the inmates feel. Frankl effectively addressed some of the hardest questions to answer (emotionally and scientifically): "How can one person become so brutal to another person especially when they originated from the same status and community?", "Why do inmates choose to commit suicide?", "How do people become numb over time?", "What role does love play in staying hopeful?", "Why does humor arise amidst suffering?". I thoroughly enjoyed the analytical lens.

Logotherapy is compared to psychoanalysis, but it is an addition. Logotherapy looks to the future while psychoanalysis looks to the past. In looking to the future, a person tries to find meaning. Meaning can manifest in three ways: 1) through doing work or a deed, 2) through an experience or loving someone, 3) through accepting and finding purpose in suffering. The best example that Frankl uses for concreteness is that if you find that your meaning of life is loving someone (the second bucket), but the beloved passes away, then you would find yourself in the third bucket. You will think that your suffering has spared your beloved and you will come to accept and grow in your grief.

A related concept he brings up is "paradoxical intention" where fearing something will bring upon that very thing being feared, while excessively desiring something will circumvent that something to happen. I relate to the hyper intention part a lot. Frankl suggests that a remedy would be to acknowledge the hyper intention, draw out the fear parallel to the desire, and will that fear to happen. I will try to implement this in my life.

I have a lot of respect for Frankl to have seen through all the pain to know that he must use his experience to develop knowledge for psychotherapy.

Xin Ma

The longer I wait to write a review, the more the book has impacted me. I feel like my subconscious is still working through the stories and concepts in this book.

The two main parts of the book — the anecdotes and analyses from the concentration camps, and the development of logotherapy partially as a result of the former — served different purposes for me.

First part:
I've read several books that try to elucidate the horrors and sorrows of Auschwitz. They're emotive and have a story arch. This works to draw readers in and allow them to settle into the setting. But I enjoyed how analytical Man's Search for Meaning was. It used examples to support the main arguments which were about how the inmates feel. Frankl effectively addressed some of the hardest questions to answer (emotionally and scientifically): "How can one person become so brutal to another person especially when they originated from the same status and community?", "Why do inmates choose to commit suicide?", "How do people become numb over time?", "What role does love play in staying hopeful?", "Why does humor arise amidst suffering?". I thoroughly enjoyed the analytical lens.

Second part:
Logotherapy is compared to psychoanalysis, but it is an addition. Logotherapy looks to the future while psychoanalysis looks to the past. In looking to the future, a person tries to find meaning. Meaning can manifest in three ways: 1) through doing work or a deed, 2) through an experience or loving someone, 3) through accepting and finding purpose in suffering. The best example that Frankl uses for concreteness is that if you find that your meaning of life is loving someone (the second bucket), but the beloved passes away, then you would find yourself in the third bucket. You will think that your suffering has spared your beloved and you will come to accept and grow in your grief.
A related concept he brings up is "paradoxical intention" where fearing something will bring upon that very thing being feared, while excessively desiring something will circumvent that something to happen. I relate to the hyper intention part a lot. Frankl suggests that a remedy would be to acknowledge the hyper intention, draw out the fear parallel to the desire, and will that fear to happen. I will try to implement this in my life.

I have a lot of respect for Frankl to have seen through all the pain to know that he must use his experience to develop knowledge for psychotherapy.

Man's Search for Meaning

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