Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Man's Search for Meaning
Book Review: The Meaning of Life
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a small book with a big subject - life and meaning - written in 1946 and first published in 1959. Only recently it has been published in English. It still rings true, written by a Nazi concentration camp inmate, Dr. Viktor Frankl. He originally wanted to be an anonymous author; however, his friends persuaded him to publish under his own name to give the book credibility. Readers could therefore also understand this is a psychiatrist's objective view of suffering, which is part of life, and why life and hope prevail in the darkest moments.
Part One, Experiences in a Concentration Camp is key to all he learned on the meaning of life. The horrible losses and inhumanity are seared into your mind, but when Dr. Frankl looks at the horror with educated eyes, he recognizes courage, objectivity and responsibility as vital for survival. This is a story of a man who was sent to the concentration camp with a belief that if he had to suffer and die, it would be significant: he would not suffer nor die for nothing.
Dr. Frankl reviews the fight for survival and his decisions that somehow help him survive. He notes that prisoners go through three phases, 1)shock: the period following his admission 2)apathy: the period where they they become well entrenched in camp routine, and 3)the sense of loss, where they lose everything but hope. He digs down deep in his own soul to helps others to go on and have meaning in their life - not to give up and find the basic motivation to go on. He teaches despairing men "that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but what life expected from us." Dr. Frankl repeats, "if we have the "why" we will always find the "how" to go on."
This book shows each individual he is important and every decision he makes is impactful. Therefore, make the right decisions and be triumphant. Right decisions cause the least pain and give the most love for fellow man. It is what gives us hope and value as part of humanity.
Part Two, Logo-Therapy in a Nutshell, was not as interesting to me. It describes Frankl's philosophy of logo-therapy and reminded me of of mid-eastern religions as well as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. It is a way (Frankl calls it "neo-dynamics") to have a goal in mind and achieve it no matter what obstacles and stress you are facing. The things that make life important and with meaning are different for each of us. All of us can have a meaning of life, but the "big picture meaning" is hard to understand. It takes us a lifetime of good and bad events and decisions to shape us.
Part Three, is a postscript on "Tragic Optimism" and states that despite the "tragic triad" (as it is called in Logo-Therapy) 1)pain, 2)guilt, and 3)death - how is it possible to say yes to life in spite of all that? Logo-therapy teaches there are three main avenues on which one arrives at meaning in life. The first is creating a work or by doing a deed. The second is by experiencing something or encountering someone, and the third is turning a personal tragedy into a triumph. He mentions using bad situations as a growth experience.
Overall a deep book but a good book on looking at life. It shows that each one of us can determine personal meaning and why it is important.
Book Review: Probably my Favorite Non-Fiction Book
Summary: 5 Stars
I am not much on bibliotherapy, but I have lost more copies of this book than any other giving it to psychotherapy clients to read. This is an incredibly readable, heartfelt treatise on meaning-oriented, existential therapy. The greatest component to it is that it is not written in an erudite nor an obtuse manner. Instead, it is written so that everyone can grasp it. Written from a first-person perspective, with the first part of the book focused on Frankl's personal and interpersonal struggles, trials, tribulations, and explorations while in a concentration camp, this book clearly and simply develops Frankl's logotherapy perspective on therapy. As I have done before with countless clients, I highly recommend this book for anyone in search of meaning in life.Book Review: Man's Search for Meaning
Summary: 3 Stars
I ordered this book for myself after one of the other women on the tour suggested it. I've only read a few chapters. It's not a book you can't put down. I haven't had any free time to go back and read more of it.Book Review: It is hard not to see the brilliance in this book
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is deceptively small, but incredibly deep, and probably unmatched anywhere in literature...(that I have ever read at least). The first part is a stark autobiography of Frankl's personal journey through the Holocaust. It is powerful, compelling and harrowing.. this story is now familiar, but Frankl tells it with immense compassion and dignity. A Google search reveals that this book has not been invited into a certain Holocaust museum (?), but one would assume it is because Frankl's philosophy, which he outlines in the second part of the book, which is borne from his personal search for meaning in the darkest days of WW2, achieved a transcendence of Self that went beyond the labelling of Jew and Nazi. I found his exposition of logotherapy fascinating, with golden threads of thought that I could unwind with more current day psychological schematas, such as those propounded in NLP and Psychosynthesis. As a primer on the theory of Existentialism and an introduction to existential therapy, which he helped to form, I would also thoroughly recommend this book. Book Review: This book changed my life.
Summary: 5 Stars
This book changed my life. I have purchased this book more times than I can remember to give to other people. The author has a way of stating things with a minimum of words. This is good for the reader because a library full of other books cannot begin to have the impact, in my opinion, of this book.
Frankl does not seem to feel he is special or extraordinary is any way because he has survived his circumstances. He is kind to his readers. When I read this book I feel as though I am in his kind hands. I feel as though I am being taken care of.
One thing I always remember from this book, and think about almost daily is something he writes about how we perceive other people. He writes that often we form an opinion about someone, and then later hear something about that person from someone else that is totally different. He says perhaps we think that someone is very bad, and then hear someone say that that person is very good. He goes on to remark that what made that person good had perhaps not happened to that person yet, when our opinion was formed. Before I make opinions about others now, I think that whatever I'm about to say that is critical, may have already changed. I think we would appreciate if others would do this for us.