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Man's Search for Meaning

by Viktor E. Frankl

4.34 · Rating details · 219,578 Ratings · 11,478 Reviews

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 ...more

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Paperback, 184 pages

Published June 1st 2006 by Beacon Press (first published 1946)

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Jul 02, 2007 Frank rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: people who want to live a fulfilling life

Shelves: meaning-and-happiness, favorites

After I read this book, which I finished many, many years ago, I had become self-critical of any future endeavours which would take up a lot of my time. I would ask myself "is this or will this be meaningful to me?", and if the answer was "no", I wouldn't do it. It was this book that influenced me to consciously live as meaningful a life as possible, to place a great value on the journey and not just the destination, while knowing that "meaningful" doesn't always mean "enjoyable". "Meaningful" s ...more

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Aug 26, 2008 Laurel rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, favorites, classics, psychology, memoir, philosophy, history

I read this book for the first time during my senior year in high school. The year prior, I had gone to Germany for spring break with some fellow classmates. During the trip, we spent a day visiting a former WWII concentration camp in Dachau. As one might expect, this visit had a profound affect on me. I had of course read and knew about the atrocities that occurred under the Nazi regime, but to actually see the gas chambers in person is a deeply haunting and disturbing experience. Perhaps for t I read this book for the first time during my senior year in high school. The year prior, I had gone to Germany for spring break with some fellow classmates. During the trip, we spent a day visiting a former WWII concentration camp in Dachau. As one might expect, this visit had a profound affect on me. I had of course read and knew about the atrocities that occurred under the Nazi regime, but to actually see the gas chambers in person is a deeply haunting and disturbing experience. Perhaps for this reason, Frankl's book affected me even more deeply than it otherwise might have.

The book is divided into two parts. The first section recounts in vivid detail Frankl's horrifying experiences as a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. Frankl, a former psychiatrist, also describes his observations of other prisoners, and what he felt to be the main way in which people tried to cope with the insurmountable obstacles they faced. He found that those who could find meaning or purpose in their suffering were the ones who also seemed better able to find the strength to go on. As I recall, Frankl personally found his purpose in the hope of someday being able to see his wife again... a hope that was strong enough to get him through the daily horrors he faced.

The second half of this book is devoted to the therapy he developed based on the search for meaning, which he calls logotherapy. The basic premise is that those who can find meaning in their suffering are better able to cope with what would otherwise be a struggle too hard to bear. As one who majored in psychology, I found this section as fascinating as the first.

I have read this book at least 3 times now, and it is one of the few books I can say truly changed my life. I am ever grateful that I have the wisdom of this book to fall back upon when needed.

Several years ago, at a very young age (in my 20s), I became ill with a disease that left me bedridden and barely able to speak above a whisper. Now 36, I am still bedridden and fighting the same battle. It is Frankl's reminder to find meaning and purpose in suffering (which I found in the love of my fiancé and my hope of recovery) that has helped me to get through each difficult day. As Frankl tells us, "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."

I highly recommend this book!! ...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Petra X rated it it was amazing

Shelves: psycho-neurology-crime, history, philosophy-religion, 2013-reviews, reviewed

How is it possible to write dispassionately of life in a concentration camp in such a way as to engender great feeling in the reader? This is how Frankl dealt with his experience of those terrible years. The dispassionate writing makes the horrors of the camp extremely distressing, more so than writing that is more emotionally involved. It is almost reportage. The first half of the book is equal in its telling to The Diary of a Young Girl in furthering our understanding of those dreadful times.

T ...more

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Jun 10, 2012 Bushra Omar rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, كتب-غيرتني

" الإنسان يبحث عن المعنى " – مقدمة في العلاج بالمعنى.. التسامي بالنفس

في كل مرة تفتح كتابًا، توقع أن يحصل لك شيئًا عظيمًا! كأن تولد من جديد .. و هذا ما حدث معي بالفعل، و تعتبر هذه ولادتي الثالثة في الحياة، فالانسان يسمو في كل مرة و يرتفع خطوة جديدة وتتبدل قناعته الأولى، فإذا ما كنت وصلت مسبقًا إلى معنى البحث عن النفس و تحقيق الذات، فإنني بعد كتاب "فرانكل" أخرج من سجن فكرة إلى فكرة أعمق!! ، من سجن الهدف و التوتر و السعي للاتزان إلى المعنى
" لا يمكن التوصل إلى تحقيق الذات إذا جعله الشخص كفايه في حد ...more

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Mar 03, 2017 Pouting Always rated it really liked it · review of another edition

The original part one was the strongest I think because the rest started to go into the typical psychobabble inherent to books trying to contribute to the academic side of psychology or psychiatry but the first part really grounded the idea of giving meaning to one existence into personal experience and I found it very poignant about the mental state of people in very stressful and hopeless situations. It's a very empowering and important idea that no matter the situation a person can control th ...more

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Apr 27, 2017 Mohammed Ali rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

بسم الله الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

- اعترافات لا بدّ منها :

1- المراجعة طويلة نوعا ما .. و لا أدري لماذا صراحة ؟ و ما معنى أن تكون المراجعة طويلة ؟
2- مستواي في علم النفس ضعيف جدا، لذلك تهت بين المصطلحات والمفاهيم النفسية وحاولت قدر الإمكان استيعابها وفهمها .
3- الشكر موصول للأخت هناء، فمراجعتها كانت السبب في اختيار هذا الكتاب .
4- لا أدري !!

عن الكاتب :

1- ولد الدكتور فكتور فرانكل في 26-03-1905 في فيينا، و توفي في 02-09-1997 .
2- طبيب أعصاب و طبيب نفسي .
3- من الذين عايشوا الحياة في المعتقلات النا ...more

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Oct 25, 2011 Riku Sayuj rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: pop-phil, r-r-rs

For most of the book, I felt as dumbfounded as I would have been if I were browsing through a psychiatric journal. Filled with references and technical terms and statistics, it was mostly a book-long affirmation of the then innovative technique called 'logo-therapy'. I do not understand how this book is still relevant and found in most popular book stores. It might have been that the book was popular in the sixties and seventies as it offered a powerful and logical argument against the reduction For most of the book, I felt as dumbfounded as I would have been if I were browsing through a psychiatric journal. Filled with references and technical terms and statistics, it was mostly a book-long affirmation of the then innovative technique called 'logo-therapy'. I do not understand how this book is still relevant and found in most popular book stores. It might have been that the book was popular in the sixties and seventies as it offered a powerful and logical argument against the reductionist approach that leads inevitably to existential nihilism, but is that still relevant today? It also attempts to free psychiatry from the belief that 'eros' was the cause of all neurosis and turns the flashlight on repressed 'logos' - which forms the premise of the book and the title.

But, while the basic premises are powerful and moving, the breadth and scale of repetition of the same ideas and the technical jargon and the constant Freud-bashing ensured that I did not enjoy the book as much as I had hoped. Furthermore, the whole chapter dedicated to the theory that ultimately our basic necessity of 'search for logos' can also be explained as a 'repressed religious drive' and his exhortation to religious people to not look down on irreligious ones (read atheists and agnostics) just because they have achieved a stage that the atheists/agnostics are still aspiring (unconsciously of course) towards rang patently false and too much in line with his argument of psychiatry being a sister to theology.

I wish Frankl had stuck to his original title of 'The Unconscious God' - it would have been more representative of the book as his 'logos' argument directly derives from his postulation of a transcendent unconscious super-ego that trumps Freud's 'Super Ego' and a spiritual cum instinctual subconscious that trumps Freud's 'id'.

Unless you are looking for a historical perspective on the technical aspects of psychiatry and about the origins of 'logo-therapy', I would not recommend this book, especially for general reading. If you pick up this book, like I did, in the hope that it is about Frankl's personal quest for meaning amidst the horrors of Auschwitz with a strong scientific perspective, you will be disappointed to find that you have picked up a medical journal that is pedantic and repetitive, with hardly any reference to Frankl's personal journey or about how he evolved his theory and practices (that did transform many lives) based on his experiences. ...more

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Jan 22, 2008 Emily rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Emily by: Robert T. Barrett

After the Book of Mormon, this would be my second recommendation to anyone looking for purpose in life.

Here's a poignant excerpt from one of my favorite parts of the book when Frankl has been in Auschwitz and other camps for several years and doesn't know the war is only weeks away from ending. He had decided to escape his camp near Dachau with a friend and was visiting some of his patients for the last time.

"I came to my only countryman, who was almost dying, and whose life it had been my ambi After the Book of Mormon, this would be my second recommendation to anyone looking for purpose in life.

Here's a poignant excerpt from one of my favorite parts of the book when Frankl has been in Auschwitz and other camps for several years and doesn't know the war is only weeks away from ending. He had decided to escape his camp near Dachau with a friend and was visiting some of his patients for the last time.

"I came to my only countryman, who was almost dying, and whose life it had been my ambition to save in spite of myself, but my comrade seemed to guess that something was wrong (perhaps I showed a little nervousness). In a tired voice he asked me, 'You too, are getting out?' I denied it, but I found it difficult to avoid his sad look. After my round I returned to him. Again a hopeless look greeted me and somehow I felt it to be an accusation. The unpleasant feeling that had gripped me as soon as I had told my friend I would escape with him became more intense.

Suddenly I decided to take fate into my own hands for once. I ran out of the hut and told my friend that I could not go with him. As soon as I had told him with finality that I had made up my mind to stay with my patients, the unhappy feeling left me. I did not know what the following days would bring, but I had gained an inward peace that I had never experienced before. I returned to the hut, sat down on the boards at my countryman's feet and tried to comfort him..."

I found such strength and wisdom in this book--strength and advice for me as a mother of five young children. While potty training, bending over to clean up a handful of toys for the the thousandth time that day, scraping Play Dough off of a filthy kitchen floor on hands and knees, and preparing the fifth snack of the day for several hungry mouths (directly after doing the dishes from the previous snack) I find the text of this book to give profound meaning to small and simple acts of selflessness, patience, and service. What a profound reminder that "The immediate influence of behavior is always more effective than that of words." I desperately needed to read this book, if only to remember to be calm and kind to my little ones so that they will pass on the favor to their own next generation.

Bravo to Viktor Frankl for bringing human frailty and greatness into perspective.

"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." -Frankl
...more

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Aug 29, 2016 Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: biography-autobiography, historical-nonfiction, classics, wwii, non-fiction, bingo-2016

This is a short but extremely intense book, first published in 1946. It begins with the author's experiences in four (!!) different German concentration camps in WWII, including Auschwitz, and how he coped with those experiences -- and saw others cope with them, or not. He continues in the second half of this book with a discussion of his approach to psychiatry, called logotherapy, based on the belief that each person needs to find something in his or her life, something particular and personal description

There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as the knowledge that there is meaning in one's life. There is much wisdom in the words of Nietzsche: "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how."

The first half of the book is completely absorbing, fascinating reading. When I tried to read the second, more academic part of it years ago, I floundered (I don't think I ever got through to the end). But I stuck with it this time and found it truly rewarding.

The second part did sometimes challenge my brain cells with concepts like this:

I never tire of saying that the only really transitory aspects of life are the potentialities; but as soon as they are actualized, they are rendered realities at that very moment; they are saved and delivered into the past, wherein they are rescued and preserved from transitoriness. For, in the past, nothing is irretrievably lost but everything is irrevocably stored.

I had to read that one two or three times before I felt like I really grasped what Frankl was saying. And this one:

Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!

I assume it's to help give us motivation to avoid making a wrong choice, by thinking through the likely consequences of what we are about to do. But there are so many nuggets of wisdom in this short volume. A few things that really impacted me:

We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us.

One should not search for an abstract meaning of life. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated.

It is one of the basic tenets of logotherapy that man's main concern is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see a meaning in his life. ... In accepting this challenge to suffer bravely, life has a meaning up to the last moment, and it retains this meaning literally to the end.

Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment. By the same token, every human being has the freedom to change at any instant.

Inspiring words; inspiring life.

Bonus material: Here is an interview with Viktor Frankl when he was 90 years old. He died just a couple of years later.

#16 of 24 in my 2016 Classics Bingo Challenge. 2/3 done! ...more

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Oct 30, 2011 K.D. Absolutely rated it liked it

Recommended to K.D. by: anarki

Shelves: essays, non-fiction

The sun is slowly rising up ushering the dawning of a new day. The mother and the father are sipping their first cups of coffee. Their schooling children are rising up from their bed. The mother attends to her children’s daily routine. She bathes, feeds them their breakfast and makes sure that their things are all in their individual school bags. Para Kanino Ka Bumabangon? (translation: Whom Do You Wake Up For?) is heard as a voice over. This is Nestle’s TV ad for Nescafe coffee but it sends a v ...more

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Feb 07, 2016 Francisco rated it it was amazing

This book stands out as one of the most helpful tools I've found in my life-long search for the way to live and be useful to others despite depression. As opposed to Freud, who believed that the primary drive in man, the most urgent motivation, was pleasure, Frankl believes that it is meaning. Now meaning for Frankl is not something abstract and airy and noble but rather something very concrete and specific to your life - what is the task that life asks of you that only you can do? Look at the c This book stands out as one of the most helpful tools I've found in my life-long search for the way to live and be useful to others despite depression. As opposed to Freud, who believed that the primary drive in man, the most urgent motivation, was pleasure, Frankl believes that it is meaning. Now meaning for Frankl is not something abstract and airy and noble but rather something very concrete and specific to your life - what is the task that life asks of you that only you can do? Look at the circumstances of your life, look at your talents and the people that surround you. Where is the need that is calling for you to respond? For Frankl, the hope that kept him trudging on day by day in the concentration camps was the need to re-write the manuscript (taken away when first imprisoned) where he could present to the world his theory of Logotherapy. Why I found this book so helpful in my struggles with depression is because one of the rock-bottom places where depression can take you is despair. Despair is the absence of hope. The search for meaning, for a response to something life is asking of you, is the place where hope is born. Frankl states that hope, like genuine laughter or like faith or love is not something that we can will into being. We cannot make hope appear willy nilly in our lives because hope is more than a nice thought, it is, like true love something that involves your whole being. I find this to be true but there are things that we can do to prepare the way for hope's arrival and hope will come, it will always come. We can search for meaning because searching and looking and asking and expecting are acts and attitudes that we can will. Meaning, according to Frankl is found in three different forms. Meaning is found in creating or doing. Meaning is found in experiencing something greater than ourselves and in encountering another being through love. And finally, meaning can be found in the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering. The important thing here is that in all of these instances the value of the thing that gives meaning is subjective. There is no scale out there that says that writing a novel gives more meaning than helping your spouse with the dishes. When it comes to meaning, the small, the hidden, the unsaid is as important as the great acts of genius and you alone are the judge. Orienting yourself to responding in some way to what life is asking of you may not be the sole cure to depression but it is for me a necessary part of any healing process, of learning to live and be useful, despite the illness. ...more

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Jul 28, 2015 فرشاد rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

باشد که با این خواندن، از این بی معنا یی زندگی، رهایی پیدا کنم...

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Nov 07, 2011 anarki rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: real-horrorshow

Have you ever been in a situation wherein unreasonable suffering seems the only task left in your life that suicide seems to be a very reasonable option? Have you ever thought that living only extends the misery and torment you've already took? Have you felt the vacuum of meaningless suffering sucking the life out of you like a black hole? Have you ever thought that breathing is a disease only death can cure? If yes, then you haven't read this book.

The meaning of life … Many people already died ...more

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Dec 03, 2016 هَنَـــاءْ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

"لقد دعوت الله في سجني الضيق .. فأجابني في رحابة الكون."

"ويل لمن لا يرى في الحياة معنى!."

"من يمتلك سبباً يعيش من أجله فإنه يستطيع غالباً أن يتحمل بأي طريقة وبأي حال." -نيتشه

_________

"الحياة يمكن أن يتم سحبها بواسطة الأهداف تماما مثلما يمكن أن يكون دفعها بالغرائز."

"إن الهدف الحقيقي للوجود الإنساني لا يمكن أن يوجد فيما يسمى بتحقيق الذات. فالوجود الإنساني هو بالضرورة تسام بالذات وتجاوز لها أكثر من أن يكون تحقيقاً للذات."

"حين لم نعد قادرين على تغيير وضع فنحن نواجه تحدياً يتمثل في تغيير أنفسنا."

"ال ...more

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Sep 15, 2017 Raya راية rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

"فالويل لمن لا يرى في حياته معنى، ولا يستشعر هدفًا أو غرضًا لها؛ ومن ثم لا يجد قيمة في مواصلة هذه الحياة."

إن ما يميّز الإنسان عن باقي الكائنات الأخرى هو أن الإنسان لا يمكنه العيش من أجل الغذاء والنوم والجنس.. إلخ – على الرغم من أهمية هذه الحاجات- فقط، وإنما بأن يدرك أن لحياته معنى وأن يحيا من أجل هدف يحققه وأن يكون له مُثُل ومبادئ وقيم عليا.. وإن الإنسان الذي لا يدرك معنى وجوده أو لا يملك هدفًا يحيا من أجله لهو إنسان ضائع وستفقد "الحياة" لديه معناها وقد يكون أقرب للموت في كل لحظة.

إنّي على الصع ...more

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Jan 02, 2009 Ben rated it really liked it

Shelves: good-nonfiction, philosophy, psychology, war, read-in-2009, important-message, transformative-experience

Reading about the holocaust awakens me to the varying sides and degrees of human nature.

"Life in a concentration camp tore open the human soul and exposed its depths. Is it surprising that in those depths we again found only human qualities which in there very nature were a mixture of good and evil? The rift dividing good from evil, which goes through all human beings, reaches into the lowest depths and becomes apparent even on the bottom of the abyss which is laid open by the concentration camp ...more

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Sep 10, 2012 Diane rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sociology-psychology, inspirational, survival, holocaust, philosophy

This is a fascinating book by a psychiatrist who survived the Holocaust. The first part, which I loved, is the author's story about how he endured the concentration camps. Frankl's purpose in describing his time in Auschwitz and other camps was not to dwell on the horrors -- though there were plenty of those -- but instead to focus on how prisoners found meaning in their lives and how they chose to survive.

The book's foreword has a good summary of the ideas to come: "Terrible as it was, his exp ...more

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Aug 21, 2015 Maxwell rated it liked it

Shelves: i-own-it, non-fiction, audiobook, 2016

I have to separate the emotional impact of the first half of the book from my overall impression on how effective the book was as a whole. It's really difficult not to find stories of the holocaust incredibly gripping, and the way in which Frankl speaks of his experience is inspiring and yet still maintains that gravity you'd expect from such a narrative.
However, the latter half of the book delves much more into a psychological, and less personal, examination of 'logotherapy' (that is, the autho ...more

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Jan 04, 2012 mai ahmd rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: دراسات

كتاب جميل جدا ومهم في مجال الصحة النفسية
يستعرض الدكتور فرانكل تجربته الذاتية وخبراته في معسكرات النازية
وكيف استطاع من خلال إيمانه بمعنى وجوده من الإستمرار في مقاومة حياة الذل
كيف أعطى لنفسه معنى حين ألغي وجوده في المعسكر وتحول لمجرد رقم من خلال تحقيقه الانتصار الداخلي
الكاتب وصف المراحل التي يمر بها السجين منها مرحلة النكوص مرحلة اختلال الشخصية ومرحلة البلادة
مرحلة العدم ومحاولات الإنتحار كما يتحدث باسهاب عن المعاناة والألم النفسي
المشوق في الكتاب أنه يضرب أمثلة من واقع تجربته شخصيا

يشرح في الج ...more

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Dec 19, 2014 David Lentz rated it it was amazing

I followed Viktor Frankl diligently in his journey from the gas ovens of Auschwitz into the hospitals of Vienna after he beats the 1 in 20 odds of his surviving a German concentration camp. He writes that the single most important self-determinant in his survival was his deep inherent conviction under the worst of all possible conditions that life has meaning: even here under constant risk of typhus, wearing the recycled prison garb of those who had been sacrificed to the ovens, starving, freezi I followed Viktor Frankl diligently in his journey from the gas ovens of Auschwitz into the hospitals of Vienna after he beats the 1 in 20 odds of his surviving a German concentration camp. He writes that the single most important self-determinant in his survival was his deep inherent conviction under the worst of all possible conditions that life has meaning: even here under constant risk of typhus, wearing the recycled prison garb of those who had been sacrificed to the ovens, starving, freezing, beaten, demonized and dehumanized. If one can still find meaning here and survive because of it, then under better conditions meaning should be possible to find. Frankl believes that there are three sources of meaning: 1) one's work 2) other people whom you love 3) rising with dignity and integrity from a hopelessly tragic diminishment. He found that in the camps the survivors had a positive attitude, which reinforced their search for meaning and gave them hope in a hopeless situation. In Vienna hospitals he debunked theories of Freud and Adler with "logotherapy" which helps others to find the meaning in their lives and heal from thoughts of suicide, psychoses and neurotic behavior. "Logos" is Greek for "meaning" and if you can find it in your own life, then essentially it seems you are as invincible as Frankl, who not only survived Auschwitz but also lived into his 90's, is the living proof of his own thesis. Ultimately, when asked what was the meaning of his life, he wrote that the meaning of his life was to help other people find the meaning in their lives. He is an existentialist but he has a positive outlook on life unlike, for example, Camus or Sartre or the usual champions of this dark philosophy, which sprang out of the widespread, bombed-out wreckage of WWII. He writes that the Nazis proved what man was capable of and Hiroshima proved how high the stakes are. So the search for meaning is important therapy not only as it heals individuals but also because it has a healing and uplifting effect upon humanity as a whole and may well be one approach to saving the human race from its own self-destruction. Frankl had a visa and train ticket out of Vienna before the Nazis rose into power but decided to stay there to help his aging parents who had no such respite. Like Frankl, his pregnant wife and parents were taken to the camps and on the first day after he came home to Vienna he learned that all three had been lost there. He wrote "The Search for Meaning" in only nine days and described how his positive attitude and search for meaning enabled him to survive. He describes how this process of autobiography helped him to begin his own healing, a term which he describes as "autobibliotherapy." By virtue of writing down one's findings in the search for meaning, one serves to find meaning in one's own life and to help others find it in their lives. He prescribes no formulas and believes that every individual must find his or her own meaning in life despite diminishments and suffering and death which accompany every life. With incredible, calm clarity he writes that for everyone "suffering and death are necessary to complete life." He believes that suffering clarifies the meaning of life and, while he doesn't believe we need to bring it upon ourselves, the average life generally provides sufficient circumstances for us to know that suffering is an inevitable aspect of life. So why not learn from it? As Nietzsche wrote: "Suffering is the origin of consciousness." He is not advising us to bring it upon ourselves as a form of sadomasochism but to rise above it with heroic integrity and see it as an opportunity to learn from it. He believes that such life lessons ultimately hold the keys for understanding and overcoming the diminishments of life itself. He writes that man always has a choice of action in reacting to the circumstances no matter how dire they may be. So it seems that readers, when they read great books, are searching for meaning and this search has healing powers for them. Further, it seems that when writers search for meaning in creating their work, they have an opportunity to experience the same healing benefits of autobibliotherapy. So keep reading and writing the good stuff for all the good it can do to you and by all means, read this brief, brilliant book by an Auschwitz survivor as it has life altering implications for you: this book will change your outlook on life and may well, thereby, save it through mastery of the art of living. ...more

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Nov 02, 2017 Raha rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy, psychology

داشتم فکر می کردم که دنیا با وجود این همه وحشی گری هنوز هم میتونه جای قشنگی برای آدم ها باشه. اما دوست دارم زمانی که این مساله رو به عنوان یه باور به زبون میارم ، اون آدمی باشم که تصوری واقعی از زشتی دنیا داره و اون نیمه ی تاریک زندگی رو هم لمس کرده

بخونید این کتاب رو ، حتما بخونید .حداقل چیزی که ازش بدست می آرید اینه که متوجه میشین انسان ها در بدترین شرایط روحی و جسمی باز هم قادر به ادامه دادن زندگی هستند . اینکه هنوز هستند انسان هایی که با لمس نیمه ی تاریک این دنیا باز هم به وجود زیبایی هاش مع ...more

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Apr 25, 2008 Wendyslc rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: anyone over 13

Reading this book in high school changed my life. I grew up in an abusive home and was in constant survival mode. After reading this book I realized that I had a choice. I could let my circumstances dictate my attitude or I could choose my attitude, which could then change my circumstances.

Becoming an adult is the hardest thing we ever do. Being an adult means accepting responsibility for your thoughts, actions and character. I realized that I can choose my thoughts and actions regardless of my ...more

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Apr 08, 2016 Greta rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-in-english, humanitarian, ebook

Dr. Frankl didn't invent it, "The Meaning of Life".
But he invented Logotherapy, that is based on it.

The book consists of two parts. The first is a short autobiography of his time in the concentration camps, as he experienced it as a logotherapist. The second part of the book is an introduction to his therapeutic doctrine of Logotherapy. He added this chapter to his book because there was a great demand for it by readers.
The second chapter therefore will only appeal to readers who want to know ...more

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Feb 21, 2018 Mohammed rated it it was amazing

لابد أنك قابلت بعضهم!

من مروا بتجارب قاسية:
إفلاس عَقِب ثراء
قسوة البشر
علاقة فاشلة
مكوث في السجن
مَرض مُقعد

أصيبوا باضطرابات نفسية أشد بطشًا من الظروف التي مروا بها:

اكتئاب مرضي
ارتياب ووسوسة
اضطراب ثنائي القطبية
خوف غير منطقي

مالم تحصن نفسيتك من الداخل، فستهشم مطارق الحياة زجاج روحك بشكل يستعصي على الإصلاح.
يتمترس البعض خلف الإيمان، بينما تغرق ثلةٌ في العمل، يرتمي القليل في أحضان الحب فيما يتلجئ الآخرون إلى بيت العائلة.

كلما سبق أدرجه الدكتور فرانكل تحت مسمى (المعنى)، فالمعنى –من وجهة نظره- هو مايحمي الإنسا ...more

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Jan 20, 2016 Miquel Reina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: motivational, top-books, learning, mustread, survival, self-growing, biography, thinking, pearl

I started reading "Man's Search for Meaning" thanks to a recommendation that appear on another book called 30 Days- Change your habits, Change your life: A couple of simple steps every day to create the life you want. Despite being one of the most influential books of the twentieth century, I had never heard about it but after reading the first pages, I quickly understood the reason for its fame. Man's Search for Meaning isn't a common story, is a true story. A collage of experiences, thoughts, I started reading "Man's Search for Meaning" thanks to a recommendation that appear on another book called 30 Days- Change your habits, Change your life: A couple of simple steps every day to create the life you want. Despite being one of the most influential books of the twentieth century, I had never heard about it but after reading the first pages, I quickly understood the reason for its fame. Man's Search for Meaning isn't a common story, is a true story. A collage of experiences, thoughts, and theories of a psychologist who survived in one of Nazi concentration camps. Although there are hundreds of books about the Holocaust, this story is really different; it isn't a dramatized story but a lucid and almost impartial story filtered through the eyes of psychology and neurology. It might seem a dark and miserable book but on the contrary, it's more a flame in the darkness that bright strong, a song of hope and strength. I recommend this book to all readers, without exception, I think it's a book that everyone should read and re-read to understand the true meaning of our lives.

Spanish version:
Empecé a leer "El hombre en busca de sentido" gracias a la recomendación del libro "30 días". Pese a ser uno de los libros más influyentes del sigo XX nunca había oído a hablar de él pero al empezar a avanzar a través de sus páginas rápidamente entendí el porqué de su fama. El hombre en busca de sentido no se trata de un relato común, sino más bien una agrupación de vivencias, reflexiones y teorías de un psicólogo superviviente de la masacre de los campos de concentración nazi. Pese a que hay cientos de libros que tratan el tema del holocausto, este relato es francamente diferente, no dramatiza en las situaciones penosas sino más bien las desgrana, las analiza y las filtra a través de los ojos de la psicología y la neurología. Lo más brillante del libro es la esperanza y las enseñanzas que hay en él, podría parecer un libro oscuro y miserable pero es todo lo contrario, es una llama en medio de la oscuridad, un canto al crecimiento interior y a la fortaleza de espíritu. Creo que no puedo evitar recomendar este libro a todos los lectores, sin excepción del género literario que os guste, es uno de esos libros que todos deberíamos leer y releer para comprender el verdadero significado de nuestras vidas. ...more

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Aug 07, 2010 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, biography, philosophy, psychology, non-fiction, memories, 20th-century

Trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen: Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager = Man's Search for Meaning; an introduction to logotherapy, Viktor E. Frankl
Man's Search for Meaning is a 1946 book by Viktor Frankl chronicling his experiences as an Auschwitz concentration camp inmate during World War II, and describing his psychotherapeutic method, which involved identifying a purpose in life to feel positively about, and then immersively imagining that outcome. According to Frankl, the way a prisoner Trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen: Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager = Man's Search for Meaning; an introduction to logotherapy, Viktor E. Frankl
Man's Search for Meaning is a 1946 book by Viktor Frankl chronicling his experiences as an Auschwitz concentration camp inmate during World War II, and describing his psychotherapeutic method, which involved identifying a purpose in life to feel positively about, and then immersively imagining that outcome. According to Frankl, the way a prisoner imagined the future affected his longevity. The book intends to answer the question "How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?" Part One constitutes Frankl's analysis of his experiences in the concentration camps, while Part Two introduces his ideas of meaning and his theory called logotherapy.
عنوانها: انسان در جستجوی معنی؛ انسان در جستجوی معنی غایی؛ درون خود را جستجو کنید خودشناسی و خودباوری آشنایی با معنی درمانی؛ انسان در جستجوی معنا؛ نویسنده: ویکتور امیل فرانکل؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه می سال 1975 میلادی
عنوان: انسان در جستجوی معنی؛ نویسنده: ویکتور امیل فرانکل؛ مترجمین: نهضت صالحیان؛ مهین میلانی؛ چاپ نخست: تهران، دانشگاه تهران، 1354؛ چاپ دوم: تهران، آذر، 1363؛ در 260 ص؛ کتابنامه: از ص 236 تا 259؛ چاپ چهارم: 1368؛ چاپ دیگر: تهران، نهضت صالحیان و مهین میلانی، 1370؛ چاپ بعدی: 1371؛ چاپ هشتم: تهران، درسا، 1374؛ چاپ دوازدهم: 1381؛ موضوع: اردوگاه اسیران آلمان، روانشناسی، زندانیان، قرن 20 م
عنوان: انسان در جستجوی معنی غایی؛ نویسنده: ویکتور امیل فرانکل؛ مترجمین: احمد صبوری؛ عباس شمیم؛ چاپ نخست: تهران، صداقصیده، 1381؛ در 207 ص؛ شابک: ایکس - 964641172؛ کتابنامه از ص 165 تا 186؛
عنوان: انسان در جستجوی معنی؛ نویسنده: ویکتور امیل فرانکل؛ مترجم: اکبر معارفی؛ تهران، موسسه انتشارات دانشگاه تهران، 1378؛ در 106 ص؛ شابک: 9640337854؛ کتابنامه از ص 105 تا 106؛ چاپ نهم 1388، شابک: 9789640337851؛ چاپ یازدهم 1393؛
عنوان: درون خود را جستجو کنید خودشناسی و خودباوری آشنایی با معنی درمانی؛ نویسنده: ویکتور امیل فرانکل؛ مترجم: الهام مبارکی زاده؛ تهران، پل، 1388؛ در 240 ص؛ شابک: 9789642330058؛
عنوان: انسان در جستجوی معنا؛ نویسنده: ویکتور امیل فرانکل؛ مترجم: مهدی گنجی؛ ویراستار: حمزه گنجی؛ تهران، ساوالان، 1392؛ در 243 ص؛ شابک: 9789647609890؛
عنوان: انسان در جستجوی معنا؛ نویسنده: ویکتور امیل فرانکل؛ مترجم: امیر لاهوتی؛ تهران، جامی، 1394؛ در 184 ص؛ شابک: 9786001761157؛
انسان در جستجوی معنا اثر ویکتور فرانکل، روان‌پزشک، عصب‌ شناس و پدیدآورندهٔ لوگوتراپی است که در سال 1946 میلادی منتشر شد. این کتاب دربردارندهٔ خاطرات فرانکل از وضعیت خود و سایر قربانیان اردوگاه‌های کار اجباری آلمان در خلال جنگ دوم جهانی است. فرانکل در این کتاب به عنوان یک روان‌شناس اگزیستانسیالیت به اهمیت جستجوی معنا برای زندگی، در سخت‌ترین شرایط زندگی می‌پردازد و ضمن روایت خاطراتش از اردوگاه‌های کار اجباری، تلاش می‌کند که نگرش جدیدش را در روان‌شناسی (لوگوتراپی) تبیین کند. ا. شربیانی ...more

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Nov 13, 2014 Darwin8u rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2014

“A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any 'how'.”
- Viktor E Frankl

I read an interesting article in the NYTimes a couple weeks ago that lead me to finally pick this book up. Actually, a couple good articles. The first was titled 'Love People, Not Pleasure' and it was about how "this “A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any 'how'.”
- Viktor E Frankl

I read an interesting article in the NYTimes a couple weeks ago that lead me to finally pick this book up. Actually, a couple good articles. The first was titled 'Love People, Not Pleasure' and it was about how "this search for fame, the lust for material things and the objectification of others — that is, the cycle of grasping and craving — follows a formula that is elegant, simple and deadly: Love things, use people." The author uses an inversion of this formula that DOES lead to happiness: Use things, Love People (also quoted by Spencer W. Kimball). This article + another recent one from the Atlantic titled 'There's More to Life Than Being Happy' made it clearly evident to me that I needed to finally dust off my yellowed, Goodwill copy of Man's Search for Meaning, plug in my earbuds and experience this book that the Universe clearly wanted me to read this week.

description

So, imagine a renowned Jewish therapist writes in 1946 (in 9 days) about his experiences at and survival in Auschwitz, and then adds his own psychotherapeutic method (Logotherapy), finding happiness by finding a meaning, a responsibility, a love, and ultimately self-determining. Perhaps it is a consequence of Frankl's work surrounding me in other writings, in popular psychotherapy, in various internet Memes and articles OR perhaps it is just a consequence of my own resilience to my own suffering that this book wasn't much of a revelation. I was like ... yup, makes a lot of sense. Good job. I think it is a great book for what it is. I just don't always get super-excited by self-help psychology books. This one is on the better end of the bell curve for this type, but I guess my problem is with the type. Other than that (minus 1-star for my type bias) it was a great book. ...more

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Sep 03, 2015 Iris P rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015-reads, holocaust-theme, should-have-read-long-time-ago, psychology, jewish-literature

This is a very important memoir/psychological theory. Took me back to my psychoanalysis classes back in my college days..

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing," Frankl wrote, "the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

Of course that Frankl had the capacity to find hope and search for life's purpose during and after surviving such horrific experiences,is what makes this short memoir so remarkable.

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Aug 05, 2016 Sanjay Gautam rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is some great stuff. It truly deserves its legendary status .

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Aug 14, 2008 Cortney rated it liked it · review of another edition

There must be something wrong with me. This is a book that everyone is supposed to love. But I didn't. I didn't even like it. I only gave it three stars because I would have felt like a first class jerk giving it only two stars.

Here's the thing- I love WWII stories- The Hiding Place, Anne Frank, etc. But Man's Search for Meaning had no emotion in it. It was so clinical and frankly quite boring.

The first section- Experiences in a Concentration Camp- was ok, but as I said, contained no emotion.

Th ...more

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About Viktor E. Frankl

Viktor Emil Frankl M.D., Ph.D., was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor. Frankl was the founder of logotherapy, which is a form of Existential Analysis, the "Third Viennese School" of psychotherapy.

His book Man's Search for Meaning (first published under a different title in 1959: From Death-Camp to Existentialism. Originally published in 1946 as Ein Psycholog ...more

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