Reviews: Man's Search For Meaning (13)

Do yourself a favour and read this

Well worth the read!!!
Only a very small book but certainly makes you think.

The book is in two parts; the "story" of Frankl's time in concentration camps and a description of his logotherapy practice. As a personal development coach and NLP practitioner I found both fascinating and informative.

You feel as though you're living the authors life with him, though sometimes hard to read, it's a true insight to the lives these men and women lived during the second world war. - A Adams

Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist survived Auschwitz and other death camps. Between 1942 and 1945 he laboured in four different camps where his parents, brother and pregnant wife died.
In this book which is divided into two parts, Frankl describes in part one detailed accounts of experiences as a prisioner in Nazi concentration camps. He describes how he coped and recalls how many did not.
The second part of the book describes the theory used by him on his patients which is based on the search for meaning, which is called logotherapy. "Logos" is a Greek word which denotes " meaning ". Logotherapy - focusing on the meaning of life, of our very existence and of what motivates man.
Frankl describes logotherapy and its use in his practice of psychiatry. He gives examples of logotherapy and the belief that each person needs to find something in their life to give meaning to their life.
This was an absorbing and fascinating book.

Absorbing study of human resilience

In my Top 50 favorite books. Everyone should read it.

I’ve realised I’m not a big fan of self-help books, but this one was particularly profound. Viktor Frankl draws upon his harrowing experiences during the Holocaust and his time in Auschwitz, providing expert psychological analysis, particularly through his study of logotherapy. The book vividly portrays the harsh realities of the concentration camps while demonstrating how one can find purpose and meaning even in the most dire circumstances.

For me, the lessons and values in this book align closely with my personal beliefs as a Muslim, making it not only resonate with me but also appear logically coherent. It also helps put into perspective other horrific tragedies such as slavery, colonisation, and current events like the genocide in Gaza. Frankl’s message leads me to reflect that, much like in his experience, the suffering of the people enduring these atrocities may be borne through a sense of purpose and meaning given to their lives.

I believe Frankl would undoubtedly condemn the violence and injustice happening today. His philosophy, grounded in the dignity of human life, would surely lead him to oppose Israel’s actions, just as he opposed the cruelty he witnessed during his lifetime. He wrote, “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.” Additionally, he warned, “For the world is in a bad state, but everything will become still worse unless each of us does his best. So, let us be alert—alert in a twofold sense: Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of. And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake.” It’s clear that Frankl would call for an end to the senseless suffering, reminding us of the dangers of dehumanisation and urging us to take responsibility for ensuring that such atrocities never occur again.

An exceptional book. Interesting and uplifting.

It is the most compelling book I have ever read and had a profound effect on me.

This is an incredible book, and just what I needed to read at this time in order to get me to think about situations that make no sense. Frankl, who survived concentration camps talks about human nature and, as the book title says, Man's Search For Meaning. It is about how humans survive or not, in the most appalling of conditions, and how humans behave to each other, decently, or indecently; and that these conditions are not in one set of people, but that the human condition is such that there is good and bad in everyone of us, and that people can change their nature for the good at any time. How we treat others, no matter who or where they are from, is very telling of the society in which we live. The responsibility is with every individual, and that this can be achieved when the individual recognises the true meaning of their own life. First written in 1959, it is a book for our time.

Amazing insight in to how the mind works in even the most harrowing of situations.