Man's Search for Meaning

Book Description

Frankl's timeless memoir and meditation on finding meaning in the midst of suffering With a new Foreword by Harold S. Kushner and a new Biographical Afterword by William J. Winslade 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.

Customer Reviews:

It is hard not to see the brilliance in this book.......2007-10-16

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.

This book changed my life........2007-10-14

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.

"Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete".......2007-10-10

"Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete."

What is the meaning of life? Frankl try's to answer that through his experience as a prisoner in a concentration camp in Auschwitz (among others) and in his psychiatry practice after the war. Be it by grace, a miracle, or chance, he made it out alive. And now he is here to tell this powerful, optimistic story and help us with an age old question.

He try's to answer this question: " How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?" This would later influence psychotherapy. Even being surrounded by so much evil there was still kindness to be found in an occasional guard. The prisoners were not always kind to there fellow inmates: there were sellouts and CAPO's; Capo's were Jews that watched over their fellow captives for favors, food, and extended life. Who is to say what any one of us would do. With misery and suffering beyond comprehension, "having a why to live for enabled them to bear the how". I will never look at that last leftover pea the same way.

Writing on his concentration camp experience Frankl briefly discusses "logotherepy". In a later chapter he goes into detail: Logotherepy (which he coined), the "striving to find a meaning in ones life is the primary motivational force in man". In his practice he uses a form of reverse psychology. The last chapter is on optimism during tragedy.

Freedom is only part of the story, he writes: "I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast"

There are many quotables from Frankl, I will leave you with this: "Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips."

In the end, there is that need for a reason.

Wish you well
Scott

everyone should read this book.......2007-09-29

This should be required reading in all college programs before students begin their course specific courses. The second half is worth much thought. He is not into any specific religious belief, just spiritual and honest....and insightful.

Must Read for All.......2007-09-26

This book is a must read for anyone interested in self-improvement, anyone with an optimistic outlook that seeks validation, anyone in a down turn that needs a spirit uplift, well -- anyone in general. It could change your life literally overnight.

Average customer rating:

"Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete."
A great alternative to self-help books
greatest self-help book ever written
Look to a higher purpose and transcend your situation
A good book to read if you are and don't know why.

Man's Search For Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0671023373

Amazon.com

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is among the most influential works of psychiatric literature since Freud. The book begins with a lengthy, austere, and deeply moving personal essay about Frankl's imprisonment in Auschwitz and other concentration camps for five years, and his struggle during this time to find reasons to live. The second part of the book, called "Logotherapy in a Nutshell," describes the psychotherapeutic method that Frankl pioneered as a result of his experiences in the concentration camps. Freud believed that sexual instincts and urges were the driving force of humanity's life; Frankl, by contrast, believes that man's deepest desire is to search for meaning and purpose. Frankl's logotherapy, therefore, is much more compatible with Western religions than Freudian psychotherapy. This is a fascinating, sophisticated, and very human book. At times, Frankl's personal and professional discourses merge into a style of tremendous power. "Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is," Frankl writes. "After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips."

Book Description

Man's Search for Meaning is the chilling yet inspirational story of Viktor Frankl's struggle to hold on to hope during his years as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps where he endured unspeakable horror. Frankl's training as a psychiatrist informed every waking moment of his ordeal and allowed him a remarkable perspective on the psychology of survival.

Customer Reviews:

"Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete.".......2007-10-10

A great alternative to self-help books.......2007-10-06

I first heard of this book years ago through a strong recommendation by Stephen Covey in the 7 Habits, but didn't think about it until earlier this year when I was at Half Price. I was at the bookstore to buy another Covey book, "The 8th Habit", and then I spotted Dr. Frankl's book.

Nothing against most self-help/productivity books (I know I've read more than my share) but after a while they can seem kind of stupid. There's a point where some random dude telling you how you should live your life becomes a highly ineffective approach to growth.

Which is why Man's Search for Meaning appealed to me. Not only does the author back up his thoughts on suffering and meaning through extensive research, Dr. Frankl applied his ideas to help survive his three-years in the Holocaust, and so has a huge personal connection to the ideas he's presenting.

What he's talking about, as many others have agreed, is pretty straightforward: by creating meaning in life, you have the capacity to move beyond any hardship in life. But Dr. Frankl provides a way to really help internalize this idea, which is why I highly, highly recommend this book.

greatest self-help book ever written.......2007-08-30

Viktor Frankl's journey and his amazing survival techniques in the Auschwitz death camps prove to be one of the most meaningful books ever written. If there was 1 book that everyone should read in their life this would be my choice. Forget all those meaningless self-help books on getting rich, getting in touch with your inner self and all that new age baloney that might enhance your life but if your life has no meaning, no foundation for growth than nothing will ever bring you true happiness. In the midst of our greatest struggles we learn our greatest lessons and a life without struggle is not a life with meaning.

Look to a higher purpose and transcend your situation.......2007-08-30

This book is really two works in one. In the first, longer part, Frankl details his experiences in Nazi concentration camps. His purpose is to demonstrate to the reader that even in the most horrific of circumstances it is possible to hold your head high and maintain your sense of purpose and optimism. In the second part, Frankl describes just how his "logotherapy" works.

This book, highly popular in the 1970s, is both informative and practical. If you hadn't previously figured out how to rise above the fleeting events of your life when they distress you, this book makes the process clear and explicit. It is in fact one Western version of some of the main tenets of Buddhism, which tells us that life is only an illusion of endless change, and you must constantly reach for the unchangeable truths beyond that illusion.

Having missed reading the book when it was first popular, I am glad to have finally gotten to it, if a bit late in life. I strongly agree with Frankl's point that "self-actualization is possible...only as a side-effect of self-transcendence". There are additional tidbits I found useful, such as the notion of "paradoxical intention", in which you try to consciously perform some action you are trying to cure yourself of, such as stuttering. Frankl also rightly reminds us that in each situation, you will know for yourself what the one *right* thing to do is, and you must chose that in order to be at peace with yourself.

I gave the book only four stars, since I felt it was a bit repetitive (I wonder what the original 20-volume German-language version was like), continually recycling a single core idea which could have been explained in fewer words - though shortening the text might admittedly have made it less effective. It is in any case a great work, a classic in the psychology and self-help genre, not to be missed.

A good book to read if you are and don't know why........2007-08-15

Very interesting book for anyone who suffers and cannot find any meaning from it. Victor Frankel survived the concentration camps of the Holocaust during World War II. If anybody knows about suffering it would be Frankel. This is an about Christianity or Judaism... it's about believing that there is value in suffering and that nobody can take away your ability to decide how you will think about things in your life. Only you control your own thoughts. This is of course not for children.

Average customer rating:

"Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete"
An Easy Read
The Optimistic Jew
most meaningful self-help book ever written..
Faith, hope and responsibility.

Man's Search for Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl
Manufacturer: Beacon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0807014273

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Customer Reviews:

"Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete".......2007-10-10

An Easy Read.......2007-10-06

Read the book for my Philo I class and found it very interesting and certainly shed some light to our class topic about Nihilism. It is a very easy read, so I would recommend it to Philo students. For my purpose it is an appropriate read.

The Optimistic Jew.......2007-08-31

Frankl believed that man's deepest desire is to search for meaning and purpose - that neurosis is caused by "frustration in the will to meaning". Frankl's belief in meaning was formulated in the horror of a Nazi concentration camp. His essential optimism comes through in the following: "It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future...and this is his salvation in the most difficult moments of his existence, although he sometimes has to force his mind to the task...the [Auschwitz] prisoner who had lost faith in...his future was doomed. With his loss of belief in the future, he also lost his spiritual hold; he let himself decline and become subject to mental and physical decay...he simply gave up...lying in his own excreta, and nothing bothered him any more".
My own book "The Optimistic Jew: a Positive Vision for the Jewish People in the 21st Century" (www.theoptimisticjew.com) is an attempt to encourage the collective mind of the Jewish people to once again believe in its own future (and stop wallowing in its past) lest we end up lying in our own historical excreta with nothing bothering us anymore.

most meaningful self-help book ever written.........2007-08-30

Faith, hope and responsibility. .......2007-07-13

This marvelous work does for the psychologically wounded what Peter Drucker's "The Effective Executive" does for the time-impaired. That is give people a feel for what tools to use to construct their own framework for achieving happiness (not someone else's concept of what another person's happiness ought to be).
Both "Man's Search for Meaning" and "The Effective Executive" should be taken up and re-read at least once a year (pardon me for offering so specific a prescription). Both works are short enough so they can be read quickly. But don't go too fast. Consider Speaker Newt Gingrich's advice when he recommended people go through "The Effective Executive" stopping at salient points (there are plenty of those) and making notes about how something relates specifically to one's life and incorporate that into one's operating system.
Dr. Viktor E. Frankl's logotherapy (or "meaning" therapy) springs from his experience in World War II concentration camps. His writing is refreshingly free from veiled (and sometimes not-so-veiled) invective of Holocaust literature. The terms "Jew" and "German" are scarely to be found. The Jewish identification is raised only when unavoidable to give a complete picture such as when Dr. Frankl's words give an Eastern European rabbi a new lease on mental health. Frank's statement about mankind's only two groups -- the decent and the indecent -- is telling.
Among other Frankl profundities --
-- Suffering is unavoidable.
-- Man in metaphysical tension is normal and worthwhile.
Perhaps his most important statement is that life is meaningful yet the meaning is different for each person and it changes more often than one might think. Keys to following this bouncing ball include taking responsibility and developing a sense of humor, according to our author.
Freedom is not an end in itself, Frankl correctly notes, although others (especially libertarian thinkers in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises) have suggested that it needs to be treated as such societally to that the road to happiness be as wide as possible for individuals. Recognition that life is meaningful is essential to a successful navigation of this road, no matter how wide.
Frankl: "Freedom is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness."
Frankl and many libertarians/classical liberals would agree that freedom and responsibility call for a delicate balance in the human mind. But who am I to say? Read Frankl, Allport and Fabry alongside Mises, Hayek and Rothbard and judge for yourself.
Something you can't miss about Frankl -- he refuses to be a dictator. He was persecuted through the caprice of at least one hideous dictator yet denied the enemy victory by not taking on the enemy's characteristics. This represents a high level of moral reasoning. Although Frankl isn't an explicitly religious author he has earned the title of "Rabbi Frankl" through such choosing.
The opposite of the spirit that animates Frankl and other greats (arrived at through attainment of true knowledge coupled with respect for all mankind) was wonderfully encapsulated by Stephen Crane is his story "Above All Things." Of this all-too-common unholy spirit of the imperialist, the dictator, the socialist "reformer," Crane wrote:
"...The stranger finds the occupations (read: lifestyles) of foreign peoples to be trivial and inconsequent. The average mind utterly fails to comprehend the new point of view...'How futile are the lives of these people.'...This is the arrogance of the man who has not yet solved himself and discovered his own actual futility."

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Away with the existential vacuum!
the no.1 principle for success
I didn't get it
How Much Would You Pay...
Underline it and re-read it

Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl
Manufacturer: Perseus Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0738203548

Amazon.com

Viktor Frankl, author of the smash bestseller Man's Search for Meaning, offers a more straightforward alternative to traditional Freudian psychoanalysis: one's problems may be rooted in a failure to find a meaning in life beyond one's interior world. The basis for his interpretation, however, is not so straightforward. It lies in Frankl's existential analysis, plumbing for the reasons that people have repressed their consciences, their love, their creativity. By legitimizing a spiritual aspect of the human mind, Frankl has separated us definitively from the animal kingdom, but it is still up to each of us to rise to our human potential.

Book Description

Viktor Frankl is known to millions of readers as a psychotherapist who has transcended his field in his search for answers to the ultimate questions of life, death, and suffering. Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning explores the sometime unconscious human desire for inspiration or revelation, and illustrates how life can offer profound meaning at every turn.

Customer Reviews:

Away with the existential vacuum!.......2007-05-28

"We psychiatrists are neither teachers nor preachers but have to learn from the man in the street, from his ... self-understanding, what being human is all about". Of all those who applied existentialism to psychotherapy and to the efforts of human beings to help themselves, perhaps none has done so with as much wisdom as Viktor Frankl.

Although I didn't connect with the first 50 or so pages of this book, after that I was challenged and inspired by Frankl. His concerns, the "existential vacuum", the depressing impact of an "indoctrination into reductionism", the irreducibility of our experience, "responsibility as the essence of existence", these are well worth being reminded of.

That a "machine model" or "rat model" is not the best way to view human beings, does it seem such a revelation? Frankl observed how some young people had begun to view their ideals and altruism as hangups, how they had been engaging in fruitless "hidden motive" games. He wondered if behavioral scientific therapeutic programs didn't fail to take into account the specialness of people to find meaning, to transcend and to detach themselves from their situations. He called for responsibility and a recognition that we all proceed into the unknowable.

Frankl's approach is quite different from that of Freud, Jung, Skinner or even Rogers (Frankl at least credits in this book Rogers with "de-ideologizing psychotherapy"). His work still lives on, as for example in the United States through the Franklian Psychology (Logotherapy/Existential Analysis)doctoral program offered through Graduate Theological Foundation. Frankl himself, as he makes clear in this book, suggested a concept of spirituality and religion that "goes far beyond the narrow concepts of God as they are promulgated by some representatives of denominational religion", one that encompassed even atheism.

It would seem unfortunate if Frankl and his existential analysis that assumed a "will to meaning" were forgotten. Existentialism remains one of the great reponses of Western civilization to the challenges of life and Viktor Frankl one of its best practical advocates. I realize I need to read more about Frankl, logotherapy and existential analysis in general. It may be the best expression of a sacred view of being human we have in the West.

the no.1 principle for success.......2006-12-29

Please all my friends who are visitng this blog, I am sure you are here because you want to be successful. Me Too. I've read more than 100 self-help books, attended 20+ seminars, listened more than 30 audiobooks, and here is the MOST IMPORTANT rule for success - Do Something You Like. You Are Passionate About. You Will Do It For Free Anyways. This is the ONLY way, and Please Never Settle for Less. Here is WHY:

How do you define success? You can only be successful when you are being who you are. Period. Success cannot be measured by a yardstick as society always teaches us. There are times that what you really love to do doesn't look very promising, that your dad and mom tell you "Honey how about doing this instead that because this will secure you a job!". But, nothing can secure you a job if you nowadays. The only way to win is to be the BEST in your field. This is what important. What you do is not important AS LONG AS you are the BEST in what you do. And How can you be the BEST in what you do? You have to earn the competition with others who are doing the same thing as you. And, Psychologist Professor Tal Ben-Shahar at Harvard Univeristy said that you will find the things you love easy for you! And this is the secret for success! You are surely to win when you are doing something easy for you when others are not. They are struggling and you are enjoying. 8 hours feel like 1 hours for you but 16 for them. So, who will be more efficient, more creative, more energetic, more effective, more confident, more productive, more...more...? Of course YOU. And what's more important is that you will feel SATISFIED because you are actualizing yourself. - Self-Actualization is the HIGHEST pursue for human beings. You are being whom you are meant to be, fulfulling your meanings for this life. Meaning is all that matters! If you haven't got a chance to read Dr. Viktor E. Frankl's book "Man's Search for Meaning", I really urge you grab a copy. It is the pursuit of meaning that make Dr. Frankl survive the more than 3 years in concentration camps and became one of the most important thinkers and psychologists after Freud and Adler, as commented by The American Journal of Psychatry. So, please do something you like. Your success lies in there. So is your meaning.

I didn't get it.......2004-07-27

Man's Search for Meaning is my bible for life. I so anticipated
digging into Volume 2, couldn't imagine it could get any
better, it didn't.

You need a PHD in Pysch to read the first page and I only
made it to Chapter 4 and I couldn't figure out what he
was even trying to say. The verbage alone requires a
dictionary, but my arm got tired looking up every other
word.

What happened???

His first book was so rich in real life examples and
touching experiences I was filled with tears of joy.
This book is as if Victor lived his whole life in
the ivory tower talking to other suits.

Oh well, vita continua.

How Much Would You Pay..........2004-05-02

for a book that could help you discover your purpose in life? Exactly. God is not dead and reading this book helped me realize it. For that alone it is priceless. You owe it to yourself to add it to your cart now. Read it carefully enough and it could have a profound influence on your life too.

Underline it and re-read it.......2003-12-08

Holocaust survivor Frankl earned the right to teach us how to transcend ourselves and find "ultimate meaning". He was a contemporary of Freud who was able to take Freud to task for naturalism and reductionism which "undermines and erodes the enthusiasm of youth". Frankl has a lot to tell us about how to avoid the neurotic train wreck many of us are headed for. He points out that an existential vacuum (meaninglessness and emptyness) is growing in our culture as man "Now, knowing neither what he must do nor what he should do, he sometimes does not even know what he basically wishes to do. Instead, he wishes to do what other people do-which is conformism-or he does what other people wish him to do-which is totalitarianism." Frankl tells us "Man is responsible for fulfilling the meaning of his life." He contends "man is not he who poses the question, What is the meaning of life? But he who is asked this question, for life itself poses it to him. And man has to answer to life by answering for life; he has to respond by being responsible;" and "Being human means being confronted continually with situations, each of which is at once a chance and a challenge, giving us a "chance" to fulfill ourselves by meeting the "challenge" to fulfill it's meaning.

Book Description

Why does an idea that’s 2,500 years old seem more relevant today than ever before? How can the Buddha’s teachings help us solve many of the world’s problems? Journalist Perry Garfinkel circumnavigated the globe to discover the heart of Buddhism and the reasons for its growing popularity—and ended up discovering himself in the process.

The assignment from National Geographic couldn’t have come at a better time for Garfinkel. Burned out, laid up with back problems, disillusioned by relationships and religion itself, he was still hoping for that big journalistic break—and the answers to life’s biggest riddles as well. So he set out on a geographic, historical and personal expedition that would lead him around the world in search of those answers, and then some.

First, to better understand the man who was born Prince Siddhartha Gautama, he followed the time-honored pilgrimage “in the footsteps of the Buddha” in India. From there, he tracked the historical course of Buddhism: to Sri Lanka, Thailand, China, Tibet, Japan and on to San Francisco and Europe. He found that the Buddha’s teachings have spawned a worldwide movement of “engaged Buddhism,” the application of Buddhist principles to resolve social, environmental, health, political and other contemporary problems. From East to West and back to the East again, this movement has caused a Buddhism Boom.

Along the way he met a diverse array of Buddhist practitioners—Thai artists, Indian nuns, Sri Lankan school children, Zen archers in Japan, kung fu monks in China and the world’s first Buddhist comic (only in America). Among dozens of Buddhist scholars and leaders, Garfinkel interviewed His Holiness the Dalai Lama, an experience that left him speechless—almost. As just reward for his efforts, toward the end of his journey Garfinkel fell in love in the south of France at the retreat center of a leader of the engaged movement, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh—a romance that taught him as much about Buddhism as all the masters combined.

In this original, entertaining book, Garfinkel separates Buddhist fact from fiction, sharing his humorous insights and keen perceptions about everything from spiritual tourism to Asian traffic jams to the endless road to enlightenment.

Customer Reviews:

A spiritual journey.......2007-09-08

Very well written account of a personal journey...through the Buddhist world and across Buddhist history. The writer provides both an historic context for Buddhism as well as the platform for a thinking through the personal application of the spiritual components. I enjoyed the book a great deal.

airport reader . . ........2007-09-03

> Positives: nice glimpses of buddhism in different countries, well researched, taps into the desires to better understand the "big questions", held attention during a long plane ride

> Negatives: rarely goes into depth regarding the many strains of buddhism described, doesn't seem to leave reader with much at the end

> Big annoyance: 50+ year old white author's views on Asian women.

e.g. "I was becoming enamored with the beauty, charm, and mercurial quality of Chinese woman." . . .the same later happens with a Vietnamese woman. . . these parts were not needed and definitely turned me off (or would've rated book a bit higher).

For a buddhism related book, would recommend Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill

Good Read!.......2007-03-20

Good Read! Want a break from The Stephen King Books or Lost on ABC? Then pick up a copy...Nice Break from everyday life.......

great book!.......2007-03-15

loved it. Excluding southern India, all the same cities I went to. Really good read.

very much recommend it!

Buddhism or not, but peace........2007-03-14

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was insightful into the practice of Buddhism, but did not push the religion, but rather just how to practice a calmer, more spiritual life in general. I recommend it highly and have passed it on to a co-worker of mine who I feel could use some calming influences in her life!

Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy

Average customer rating:

Inspirational and thought-provoking

Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy

Manufacturer: Washington Square
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0671481169

Customer Reviews:

Inspirational and thought-provoking.......2005-08-02

Dr. Frankl's book is divided into two parts. In the first part, he eloquently describes how he survived a Nazi concentration camp. He took this terrible "opportunity" to learn how people survive crises and deprivation and horror. This section will be valuable to anyone, and especially to those of us who have survived tragedy and trauma of any kind (in other words, just about anyone again).

The second part of the book describes the philosophy of life and the existential theory of psychology that Dr. Frankl derived from his experiences. I am a practicing clinical psychologist and, while Dr. Frankl probably would not label my brand of psychotherapy as his logotherapy, I credit this book as providing me with a framework that had been missing in my work. Through my education, I learned many techniques that were useful to me, and I read about many theories of psychology and psychotherapy that were interesting, but I ended up with a set of tools but no toolbox to put them in. "Man's Search for Meaning" gave me the toolbox, or the framework that tied everything else together. Read it; it will challenge you and probably change you.

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Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy

Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Man's Search for Meaning

ASIN: B000GRQAME

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Man's search for meaning an introduction to logotherapy

Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Logotherapy | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000ANGY2K

Product Description

"....the most important contribution to psychiatry since the writings of Freud..." Los Angeles Times

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Man's Search for Meaning: an Introduction to Logotherapy
Viktor Emil Frankl
Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Logotherapy | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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