Man's Search for Meaning

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Overview

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. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with ...

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Man's Search for Meaning

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Overview

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. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, 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. Frankl's theory-known as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos ("meaning")-holds that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.

At the time of Frankl's death in 1997, Man's Search for Meaning had sold more than 10 million copies in twenty-four languages. A 1991 reader survey for the Library of Congress that asked readers to name a "book that made a difference in your life" found Man's Search for Meaning among the ten most influential books in America.

Beacon Press, the original English-language publisher of Man's Search for Meaning, is issuing this new paperback edition with a new Foreword, biographical Afterword, jacket, price, and classroom materials to reach new generations of readers.

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What People Are Saying

Patrick J. Williams
Viktor Frankl's timeless formula for survival. One of the classic psychiatric texts of our time, Man's Search for Meaning is a meditation on the irreducible gift of one's own counsel in the face of great suffering, as well as a reminder of the responsibility each of us owes in valuing the community of our humanity. There are few wiser, kinder, or more comforting challenges than Frankl's.
— Patricia J. Williams, author of Seeing a Color-Blind Future: The Paradox of Race
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780807014264
  • Publisher: Beacon
  • Publication date: 3/28/2000
  • Edition number: 4
  • Pages: 256
  • Sales rank: 27,725
  • Product dimensions: 5.72 (w) x 8.78 (h) x 0.69 (d)

Meet the Author

Viktor E. Frankl was a professor of neurology and psychiatry at the University of Vienna Medical School until his death in 1997. His 29 books have been translated into 21 languages. During World War II, he spent three years as Auschwitz, Dachau, and other concentration camps.
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4
( 168 )
Rating Distribution

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 45 Customer Reviews

  • Posted September 7, 2009

    I Also Recommend:

    Prisoners of Our Thoughts: Viktor Frankl's Principles for Discovering Meaning in Life and Work

    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!!

    15 out of 15 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 31, 2003

    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.

    11 out of 11 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted April 28, 2010

    I Also Recommend:

    One True Thing
    Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson
    Explosion In Paris

    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.

    7 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 21, 2003

    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.

    5 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 6, 2002

    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.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 6, 2001

    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!

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 13, 2005

    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.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 20, 2000

    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.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 22, 2000

    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.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted September 6, 2000

    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.

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  • Posted August 30, 2009

    This IS the book.

    This is the book that I will continue to re-read/listen to for the rest of my life. It provides meaning to every environment - psychological, professional, social, political.
    This is a book you can fall asleep to, a book you can wake to, a book you can use to take a break from what you're doing, and return to.
    Incredible writing. Incredible insight. Incredible read.

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  • Posted August 4, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    A great book!

    This is an amazing book! based on his experiences as a concentration camp inmate, Viktor Frankl describes his psychotherapeutic method (called Logotherapy) of discovering a motive for living. Frankl will take you through the three stages of concentration camp imprisonment: Shock, Apathy, and depersonalization. Indeed an unforgetable journey. I highly recommend it. Angela...

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  • Anonymous

    Posted June 6, 2009

    I am in awe.

    ( And I thought I was a tough guy. ) This is the BEST and most intelligent account I ever read.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 16, 2009

    This book will challenge you on so many levels.

    Frankl's perspective is challenging. He obviously has walked through the fires of Hell and survived suffering the depths of which few will ever really appreciate. And from that suffering he took some positive meaning. Even though the book isn't long, expect to spend a good deal of time reading, and re-reading these wonderfully written passages so that you can find meaning for yourself.

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  • Posted November 2, 2008

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    Life, the Universe and Everything (Hitchhiker's Guide Series #3)

    Arguably the most important book of all time

    Don't be fooled by the thin spine. This lightweight little paperback has inspired me more than the Bible, the Tibetan Book Of The Dead or any other holy book I can think of. The trick is to ignore the wordy explanation of logo-therapy, an intellectual device he created during his years in medicine after WW2. Most people recognize the book as something they "had" to read in Holocaust Studies or Philosophy 101. I would argue his deceptively simple writing is worth much more than a cursory glance. The genius of the text lies in his blueprint for a new philosophy: tragic optimism. I'd tell you more but I don't want to ruin it for ya. But, like Levar Burton on "Reading Rainbow" use to say, don't take my word for it!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 23, 2008

    More Powerful Than Ever

    Frankl very deftly draws you into the personal experience of the enormous difficulty and stress of Auschwitz, and the very powerful truths he found there - and which helped to him to survive. Do you know the one freedom that cannot be taken from you? This should be required reading for every American.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 3, 2005

    Have a Highlighter Handy

    For a long time, I'd heard about this book and seen it quoted by other authors. I finally realized that if so many great writers and speakers were familiar with it, I should be too. It is definitely a must read. It is in my personal top 10 list of all time. Frankl's revelations and wisdom from his horrifying experience will intrigue and amaze you. This book will be underlined, highlighted, and dog-earred. I promise.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 25, 2005

    personal and intuitive

    For all of us who have 'enough to live by but nothing to live for;...the means but no meaning.' This book gives clear reason to why we all miss the mark when we seek the meaning of our idividual journeys.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 6, 2005

    Read Mans Search for Meaning

    Victor Frankl's book Mans Search for Meaning is a book unlike anything I have ever read before. This book was absolutly phonominal, it had such a great message throughout every hardship revealed in this book. I really enjoyed learning about Victor's experiences in a concentration camp along with the psycological aspects of his experiences. This book also taught me a lot about the Nazi concentration camps that I didn't know very much about. Overall reading the book was a learning experience and it was a great book.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 16, 2004

    Both touching and helpful!

    This book was touching to the point that it was painful to read at times. Yet, the overall message of this book is wonderfully exhilarating. Whatever meaning you find in your life is your life. If that meaning gives you hope, you will have hope. If that meaning gives you despair, you will find despair. This is a fantastic piece of existential work! The whole idea in this book reminds me a bit of the concept of the self-system in Toru Sato's genuis book 'The Ever-Transcending Spirit'. Now 'The Ever-Transcending Spirit' is a much newer book but it is another truly excellent book that takes these things one step further by integrating these ideas with the psychology of relationships as well as transpersonal experiences. I recommend this Frankl and Sato's book very very much! They are both outstanding!

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