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 those he treated 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 by the Library of Congress and the Book-of-the-Month Club 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.
Born in Vienna in 1905 Viktor E. Frankl earned an M.D. and a Ph.D. from the University of Vienna. He published more than thirty books on theoretical and clinical psychology and served as a visiting professor and lecturer at Harvard, Stanford, and elsewhere. In 1977 a fellow survivor, Joseph Fabry, founded the Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy. Frankl died in 1997.
Harold S. Kushner is rabbi emeritus at Temple Israel in Natick, Massachusetts, and the author of several best-selling books, including When Bad Things Happen to Good People.
William J. Winslade is a philosopher, lawyer, and psychoanalyst at the University of Texas Medical School in Galveston.
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 by the Library of Congress and the Book-of-the-Month Club 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.
Born in Vienna in 1905 Viktor E. Frankl earned an M.D. and a Ph.D. from the University of Vienna. He published more than thirty books on theoretical and clinical psychology and served as a visiting professor and lecturer at Harvard, Stanford, and elsewhere. In 1977 a fellow survivor, Joseph Fabry, founded the Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy. Frankl died in 1997.
Harold S. Kushner is rabbi emeritus at Temple Israel in Natick, Massachusetts, and the author of several best-selling books, including When Bad Things Happen to Good People.
William J. Winslade is a philosopher, lawyer, and psychoanalyst at the University of Texas Medical School in Galveston.
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User Reviews about Man's Search for Meaning
Man's Search for Meaning
Significant work indeed after Freud and Adler. The book shows by example of personal experience of the author, and that of many other, how the influence of one's thought power can make you live or die and the rightful thinking that can make one stand against all odds. The meaning for life is not defined by someone but to be found by each one of us and that the meaning exists whatever the living state of affairs be, is the message of the book. There probably has never been a worst place to live other than in concentration camps, as described in the book and the ordeal of living through it. The book also deals with the dimension of spiritual thinking a little (probably the 8 volumes of the theory proposed by Viktor Frankl has more info). A must read for students of psychology. -- A book of psychology for common man
Excluding scientific achievements and their documentation, no other short book presents the gifts of the twentieth century as perfectly as Frankl's work.
Man's Search for Meaning, or ISM for the modern substitution of "An Individual's" for "Man's," gives the extreme twisted side of human organization with its autobiography of a holocaust survivor, but balances it with the strongest statement possible not against the horror, but against determinism: humans always have the freedom to choose their response. Furthermore, the text is written with the direct, yet respectful words, for the twisted, but not fixed, timber of human life exemplified in the intelligent style of Freud, Jung, and Adler - a mid-century style not commonly written anymore, a style that assumes that a reader not only has worked to develop a humane education, but is also willing to work to improve it.
The main thrust of Frankl is that humans strive to make meaning of their lives first and foremost. This updates Freud's statements that humans seek pleasure primarily or Adler's statements that people seek power. The job of a psychoanalyst (a quaint word today) is to use logotherapy (a set of approaches initiated by Frankl) to help patients solve their problems, internally and externally, by finding their meaning. Obviously Frankl fits within the resolving existentialism tide of the twentieth century. He complements the texts of Isaiah Berlin which also focus on the meaning of freedom within the constraints of humans as they are and the societies in which they live.
If only considered responses to Frankl by stoics such as Seneca and Aurelius were possible. A dialogue across time - which a reader can form - places many of the travails of history as being those of humans within history resolving their search for meaning, a seeking also inherent within most readers. This segues into seeing history not just through the lens of great events and powers, but through the experiences of everyone, not just elites. -- Perhaps the most valuable book of the 20th Century
I had bought this book several years ago after it was referenced in several other books I was reading. The last couple of copies were given away to people that seemed to need to read what this book illustrates. I went looking for it on my bookshelves a few months back, and remembered that I had given the last one away, so I had to order another one. After looking for it in commercial chain bookstores, and having them tell me that they'd have to order it, I figured that I'd save them the time and trouble, and just order it myself. -- Great Book
This book is an unforgettable piece of writing. It is written by Viktor Frankl, a concentration camp survivor, psychiatrist, and founder of logotherapy. In a clear, true, voice he quickly entrains the reader into the reality of the camps; the hierarchies, the realities, and the will to live that will allow humans to endure and participate in almost anything. Yet with the depravity he also writes of the few who shone- who cared for others; who did not abandon spiritual principles. This amazing first-person account is unforgettable because of his bravery, intellectual approach, and clear-headed ability to recount details. Dr. Frankl also shares the core principles behind his innovative approach to psychotherapy. We are all searching for meaning; reading this book will allow you to look at life in a new way and you will be changed forever. A life-changing and extraordinary book. -- Powerful, Sobering, Inspiring
The message in this book is timeless. Nearly every page offers a profound quote to use as a personal motto for life. -- A Classic
