Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy

Add Meaning to Your Life by Studying and Applying the Easy-to-Understand Principles of "Man's Search for Meaning", by Viktor E. Frankl

"Man's Search for Meaning", by 20th Century Psychiatrist and concentration camp survivor Viktor E. Frankl, which has sold more than 12 Million Copies worldwide since its writing in 1946, is a landmark and seminal must-read for the general population. It is authentic, practical, and with down-to-earth and simple-to-understand, ready-to-be-applied contents. It is believeable based on the history and character of its author, who chose to help his soon-to-be-imprisoned parents and family members as they faced imprisonment in the Nazi concentration camp system in 1942, instead of escaping his native Austria on a Visa to the U.S. The first part gives the history of his 3-year imprisonment and miraculous survival in extermination camps, using such mental practices as thinking of his beloved wife and helping his fellow prisoners with his skills as a nuerologist and psychiatrist. This is certainly a story of "mind over matter", if ever there was one. Only 1 in 28 prisoners survived the Nazi death-camp system. Part I of the book is about these prisoner experiences, and Part II is an explanation of Frankl's self-created school of psychiatry, called Logotherapy, which contains the "how-to-live" section of the book. I highly recommend this book for all. It can prove to be highly useful for providing insights and advice for those with depression, aggression, addiction(s), guilt, and those facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles and inescapable suffering, as it will guide the reader on HOW to find meaning in suffering, and also in more positive experiences such as achieving and loving. Must read and refer to. Recommended BUY and HOLD!!

14 out of 14 people found this review helpful.

To have lived is to have read this book at least once.

'We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that 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.¿ This is but one quote in a book filled with an all consuming energy that teaches the reader that the way in which we accept our fate and all its sufferings can give us a deeper meaning of life. Victor Frankl was a Jewish Austrian psychiatrist who spent several years in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. He lost his wife and family. Yet he emerged with a deeper and richer meaning for life. The first part of this book is a grotesque yet eloquent description of the squalor and absolute degradation the prisoners were faced with daily. He details his experiences in the camp in writing that allows his readers to almost experience the temperatures, and feelings as if you were there. His detailed recollection of his internment is just about 100 pages but it contains some of the most insightful quotes about humanness that I have ever read. The second half of this book concentrates on Frankl¿s `logotherapy¿. It is through his innermost soul searching during his internment that Dr. Frankl began to develop a psychological treatment method called logotherapy. According to Frankl, logotherapy is striving to find a meaning in one's life as the primary force. Frankl would help patients improve their mental health by helping them to discover meaning in their lives. Dr. Frankl said it best, 'We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed. For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one's predicament into a human achievement. When we are no longer able to change a situation--just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer--we are challenged to change ourselves.' I was encouraged to read this book as a work that had a strong presentation of leadership. These words could not have been spoken any truer. Dr. Frankl¿s sharing provides all of us with an insight to know that we can be leaders even in the bleakest of times -- Leaders of our own lives.

8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

JUST BRILLIANT!

Most people these days pursue pleasure, material things, wealth, success, etc. These are insignificant, really! Human life must have meaning, purpose and value. Without meaning life is merely endured and that's when people get into trouble...NOTHING LEFT TO DO..searching for that next high...You have everything money can buy but yet you are still searching....for what? When are you the happiest?....When you are doing something worthwhile, meaningful to a person or humanity, when you are serving a purpose...working for that goal...Once you are there...on to the next meaningful quest.

4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Changed My Life

Reading this book was amazing to me, as not only did it present an incredible picture of the Holocaust, different from anything Hollywood feeds us today, but more importantly it put everything that the author lived through into context of a bigger frame. He had the choice to give into despair or to learn and grow through his horrible horrible experiences, and not only did he emerge triumphant, but he then turned around and used his learnings to help others. A magnificant book - I don't know how anyone can read this and not be profoundly impacted by his story and his thoughts.

4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

A nice book for someone looking to make sense of the world

I continue to look for books to read that give meaning to my life. I was overwhelmed with the positive reviews for this book so i chose to read it. I wasnt disappointed as i read through it in less than a day. It touches on his experience through a concentration camp and describes a great deal into logotherapy...or finding one's reason to live. In a time when it seems all of our immediate needs are met, i too, feel a sense of hopelessness or meaningless as i am unemployed with a mountain of student loan debt. This book certainly shifted my focus on the outlook i have on life and definitely lived up to the reviews. I Recommend it!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Where Have You Been All My Life?

I had received "Man's Search For Meaning" a couple of years ago as a gift. Since that time it had languished on my bookshelf, overcome by other priorities. After all, it was written in 1959, so it could wait a bit longer, right? Having just finished this book I really wish I would have made the time earlier. The lessons within could have easily been applied earlier and with great results. This book is simply remarkable. At 165 pages, "Man's Search For Meaning" is lightweight compared to some of my other reads, but this book took me some time to read, not because the subject matter was difficult, but because it really caused me to stop and reflect many a time. Great things really do come in small packages - less is more. "Man's Search For Meaning" is a life changing book that you simply cannot afford to pass up.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Upon Graduating for every College Student

Every college student should embark to read this book before entering the world and charting their life. Although I take in the notion that everyone is entitled to follow their life's fate, the negative and harsh life experienes that we may come across should not weigh us down but rather enlighten us. Frankl's meticulous use of words and experience is helpful for any reader to relate it to our own lives. As a soon to be graduating senior from CSUF, I find this book helpful in many aspects struggling a as a minority, female, collective culture and indeed with my own personal experiences. Would like to 'pay it forward' to my collection of colleagues, friends and family.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Extremely Relevant

This book about the author's discovery during the holocaust of not only the need of man to search for meaning but rather his obligation to do so, naturally remains relevant today and will continue to in the future. However, it is especially relevant in examinging the displacement of individuals in modern times and how man's subjection over the past century to mass movements that have more or less failed has doomed him to a state in which he believes in nothing. A culture of apathy has developed, and Frankl shows why that is morally reprehensible. If the suffering of the holocaust is not an excuse to give up on searching for life's meaning, then disenchatment ceratinly isn't.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

One Helpful Book

I found this book to be very helpful and interesting in a time of great need. If there is anyone out there looking for a meaning to their life...this is definitely the book for them!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

THE BEST BOOK ON THE HUMAN SOUL EVER

In the history of the human spirit, no book has ever accomplished what Man's Search for Meaning has. This book is a true treasure. Any 'good' person should be required to read this book. If you read one book in your lifetime, make it this one.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Survival is emotional not physical

In Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl uses important personal issues through a detachted voice to relay the mood of the Holocaust. The only strength important to survival is emotional not physical. Frankl shows through several instances that the will to survive is stronger. It is finding that will, that reason to survive, that saved lives and caused them to go on and not give up. This is a new aspect of the Holocaust, which doesn't focus on the pain and suffering but more of the hope that allows one to go on in these situations and never stop trying. Even in trying to survive, he shows that the group will suffer to spare one person and friends can be the difference between life and death. Although this is a very emotional issue, Frankl uses a calm, detached voice to describe these events, making them appear less horrifying than they were. This can be sad for some who wish to believe that one can never get used to these cruel acts, but the truth revealed by Frankl is that one has to forget about it and get used to it in order t survive themselves. It's sad and despressing but in the end, one can only think about what in one's own life can make them continue and be their own meaning to life.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great introduction to logotherapy!

Man's search for meaning truly conveys that war is man's ultimate inhumanity to man. With everything lost, and seemingly no future hope, how does one survive? As Frankl himself had to survive he tells us that meaning in life is not found anywhere else but within yourself. This also serves a great introduction to logotherapy.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A classic of "positive thinking" that is worth reading

I have often heard of this book in reference to stories of overcoming adversity and learning to choose your attitude and outlook even in dire circumstances. I finally decided I would check it out for myself.

The first part is Viktor's story of life in the Nazi concentration camps. The second part is about his treatment method, logotherapy. Since I am not a practicing therapist, I found the first part more interesting.

Although I liked the book and did get some inspiration from it, my favorite book so far about surviving the concentration camps is Corrie ten Boom's "The Hiding Place". Frankl's knowledge as a psychiatrist does allow him to make interesting observations about what is happening around him and the people he interacts with.

Definitely worth reading.

Great Book-must read

This is a great book, should be read by everyone especially in the Psychology field

guide to human conditions around the sense of persistence

a excellent guide to analyze you life patterns, what has happened and where do you want to take. At the end you have a better sense of what the meaning of life is all about; have a reason to live for, a goal to fight for and a pattern to follow your existence through the final moment

This book floored me.

In the first half the book, Viktor Frankl speaks of his experiences in concentration camps. He recounts the daily life of prisoners, the harsh punishments they were subject to, famine and disease in the camps, and the horrors that he witnessed. His experience, like so many others, was incredibly heartbreaking, tragic and horrendous. The enormity of the atrocity was hard for me to read.

While many books have related these same accounts of concentration camps, Frankl delves into the psychology behind what has happening to the prisoners and offers readers a different glimpse into the life of a prisoner. He concludes that there were three stages a prisoner went through along with the emotions wrapped up in each stage. The first stage was the period following their admission- shock. The second stage is was the period when the prisoner became accustomed to life the in the camp- apathy. The third stage was the period following his liberation- "depersonalization," bitterness, disillusionment. It was heartbreaking reading the progression of prisoners' mental state from shock to apathy in regards to the horrors happening all around. Frankl gives many examples of events that under normal circumstances a person would have reacted with horror but to which he and the prisoners reacted as if it were nothing.

The second half the book discusses logotherapy and finding meaning in suffering and in life. It was very interesting to read his theory and how it applies to different areas of life.

Although the subject matter is very dark and that I had to stop frequently to highlight statements and passages, I found that I could not put it down and finished it in one day. I highly recommend this book.

Moving, insightful and timeless

Frankl's analysis and first-hand perspective combine with his intellect and compassion to make one potent platform from which he asks the most important questions.

A must-read to everybody!

The experiences of Dr. Viktor Frankl, as a Nazi death camp survivor, empowered him to survive with a clear perspective almost any adversity imaginable. This book is a life-changing experience! Two thumbs way up for this one.

First third pretty good, after that, not so much

It is pretty much like the title of my review said; the first third of the book was a pretty good, but the rest of the book was a long boring yawn. The first third of the book gave a great insight into the life and thinking of people in a concentration camp. Then, the author started to get into psychiatric stuff and began to spew forth psychobabble. Had to put it down!

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.