Viktor E. Frankl

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.

Man's Search for Meaning

Ali Angco

You may be prone to blame me for invoking examples that are the exceptions to the rule. “Sed omnia praeclara tam difficilia quam rara sunt” (but everything great is just as difficult to realize as it is rare to find) reads the last sentence of the Ethics of Spinoza. You may of course ask whether we really need to refer to “saints.” Wouldn’t it suffice just to refer to decent people? It is true that they form a minority. More than that, they always will remain a minority. And yet I see therein the very challenge to join the minority. For the world is in a bad state, but everything will become still worse unless each of us does his best.

El Hombre En Busca del Sentido

Magaly Belmontes

“Vive como si ya estuvieras viviendo por segunda vez y como si la primera vez ya hubieras obrado tan desacertadamente como ahora estás a punto de obrar”

Mans Search for Meaning

Sudhanva Paturkar

He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how 

“It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us.”

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

Laura Mei

If one cannot change a situation that causes his suffering, he can still choose his attitude.

In accepting this challenge to suffer bravely, life has a meaning up to the last moment, and it retains this meaning literally to the end. In other words, life's meaning is an unconditional one, for it even includes the potential meaning of unavoidable suffering.

Not only our experiences, but all we have done, whatever great thoughts we have had, and all we have suffered, all this is not lost, though it is past; we have brought it into being. Having been is also a kind of being and perhaps the surest kind.

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 right conduct. Life ultimately means taking responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual. These tasks, and therefore the meaning of life, differ from man to man, and from moment to moment.

windy

Is it not conceivable that there is still another dinmension, a world beyond man's wvorld; a world in which the question of an ultimate meaning of human suffering would find an answer?

jenna de nobrega 

to live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering

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

Edward Steel

Vojtech

The privilege of actually smoking cigarettes was reserved for the Capo, who had his assured quota of weekly coupons; or possibly for a prisoner who worked as a foreman in a warehouse or workshop and received a few cigarettes in exchange for doing dangerous jobs. The only exceptions to this were those who had lost the will to live and wanted to 'enjoy' their last days. Thus, when we saw a comrade smoking his own cigarettes, we knew he had given up faith in his strength to carry on, and, once lost, the will to live seldom returned.

men's search for meaning

michaela bakajsova

clara

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.

16 MILLION COPIES SOLD 'A book to read, to cherish, to debate, and one that will ultimately keep the memories of the victims alive' John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas A prominent Viennese psychiatrist before the war, Viktor Frankl was uniquely able to observe the way that both he and others in Auschwitz coped (or didn't) with the experience. He noticed that it was the men who comforted others and who gave away their last piece of bread who survived the longest - and who offered proof that everything can be taken away from us except the ability to choose our attitude in any given set of circumstances. The sort of person the concentration camp prisoner became was the result of an inner decision and not of camp influences alone. Frankl came to believe man's deepest desire is to search for meaning and purpose. This outstanding work offers us all a way to transcend suffering and find significance in the art of living.

The Classic Tribute to Hope from the Holocaust

maitha mana

Truly one of the best reads out there. Viktor's way of sharing his stories makes it relatable to every human being and not necessarily victims of the holocaust. The book is divided into two parts: the tragedy and the "cure" if you will. The cure being a psychological aspect known as Logotherapy. At a time and place where names were taken away and replaced with a unique code; however, this book reveals that everything can be taken away except for the memories and experiences one owns prior to the misery. I highly recommend this book and will definitely re-read it over and over again.

"He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how." -Friedrich Nietzsche

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.

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.

Qonita

membantu coping existential crisis sekalii TT

gabby

Good book. Part I was my favorite. Afterwards, I couldn’t pay attention as well.

Liam Ellul

This book is a must read for those interested in self improvement and philosophy. (Worth a re-read as well).

Through Viktor's recount of his trials in the WW2 death camps he validates a method of psycho-therapy and philosophy centred around the interplay between meaning and human motivation. 

Topics I found valuable:
- The role of responsibility
- Meaning discovery through experience (rather than postulation and philosophising)
- Paradoxical nature of intention
- The individual and religion
- Why we should ridicule of fear
- Hyper reflection/ hyper intention
- Love (defined as seeing someone's potential)

I found one passage where he describes the irrelevance of his wife's life or death (unknown to him at the time) on the love he has encountered through her to be both life affirming and profoundly moving.

Moving, inspiring, unpretentious and full of character from a true OG - Viktor E. Frankl. 

- Liam

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.

LOVED the first part of the book. He described his experiences with incredible insight. I was unable to read the second part, the analysis, as it felt more like a textbook than anything, which was not what I was looking to read…

Sarah Panek

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

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.

Ryan Haber

Fantastic. "Man's Search for Meaning" is not a guide to life and it doesn't reveal the meaning of life. 

The book does make a sound defense of why life must have *meaning* and therefore cannot be a primarily material concern. This can be taken as a complement or correction of Maslow's approach. To simplify Maslow's understanding: food, clothing, shelter, and the like are primary, with things like meaning and social acceptance serving as icing on the cake. Against this, Frankl gives his experience in the Nazi camps: meaning and mission make things like shelter either happen or not matter.

In my own experience, material considerations can buffer us against suffering to some extent. In the end, though, with our defenses breached, we will be swept away by the tide of suffering like sandcastles, unless we understand and embrace the purpose of our life.

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.

Understood that he who has a why can endure any how, or something like that. The message is awesome and the narrative first half of the book nicely intertwines psychology and storytelling. I was lost for most of the second half. 

Kohei (Jonah) Foss

Jamshid

Exceptionally great book. Even though I'm not an experienced in life, I learned the meaning couldn't be found. We shouldn't expect nothing from life, but we should respond to what life gives us.

Brian

A semanas de cumplir 26 años y sin sentido me encontraba. Este libro me dio esperanzas y un guiño a una nueva forma de ver la vida. Gracias.

Jonathan Tysick

It's been a while since a book impacted my thoughts, emotions, imagination and conversations the way this one did. Frankl argues that humanity's ultimate search is not for pleasure or power, but for meaning. He psychologically analyzes his own experience of the holocaust to demonstrate this (part 1), as well as sketching out themes of his logotherapy (part 2). 

As a Christian, I was very inspired by this book and Frankl's method of therapy. "For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue. And it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself." Highly recommended!

Yeung Man Lung

One of my best book ever. Humanity and civilisation.

Cheri Fuller

Emma

One of the most profound books I have ever read - undoubtedly one I will return to many times.

Viktor E Frankl

The classic tribute to hope from the Holocaust

Man's Search For Meaning

Ed Kay

Obviously any account of the horrors of the holocaust is so tragic and moving as to demand nothing short of 5* which I certainly give the first half of this book. This account is all the more humbling and astonishing due to the matter-of-fact narration. It's almost impossible to imagine living in conditions like this, let alone surviving it. Perhaps our minds just don't want to imagine it, and resist. I suppose every survivor story is a mixture of luck and tenacity and Frankl's is no different. There is certainly a lot to learn from these account, if nothing more than giving one gratitude for how easy and wonderful our lives are, in comparison to how bad they could be.

This edition had two further parts which went into greater detail about Frankl's resulting psychotherapeutic methods called 'logotherapy'. I was not particularly interested in any of this and it was quite a demanding read, and it's only because of this that the whole book gets marked down to an average of 3*.

Faith Ho 

This is a powerful book. 

So many parts of this book that made me stop and think; to look at my life beyond day to day routine. I picked this book up at a time of existential malaise (yes, very emo) and while I still believe that finding "the meaning of life" (mine, or in general) is a discovery rather than a definitive end point or answer, this book definitely shaped and reframed much of my perspective on that matter. 

I've jotted down many lines from this that I am excited to revisit but one stands out: "it did not really matter what we expected from life, but what life expected from us." 

Pause. Segue. 

In these times, when cynicism seems to overpower hope and the fight for the better, the fact that the author had gone through such a traumatic experience yet reaffirmed his commitment to living and finding meaning gives me hope. 

The first section is his direct reflection on his experiences in the concentration camp, which is full of perspective and ideas. The second section is on his psychology practice, logotherapy (psychology which aids the patient by finding their meaning), which was personally very interesting to read, though it could be rather technical at times. The third is on "tragic optimism", which I think most clearly reaffirms human agency and the value in struggle (it often seems nowadays that everything we do is explained by sociology, biology or psychology - this is very powerful. Though free will is another complex concept that can be debated endlessly). Ultimately, this book is perhaps less of a search than a rallying cry that there is meaning that can be found in every life, at every moment.

Bouke van der Bijl

This is required reading for anyone who wants to understand the Holocaust. It is the authors recount of his life in concentration camps, and what effect it had on his psyche. It uses this experience to show that even in the most dire of circumstances, one can find meaning.

Man's Search for Meaning

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