Man's Search for Meaning
Gift Edition
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
We were profoundly moved by Holocaust survivor Viktor E. Frankl’s account of his experiences in concentration camps and how they led him to a theory of psychoanalysis he called logotherapy. The Austrian neurologist’s book—first published in German in 1946—has been translated into two dozen languages and sold in the millions. This latest edition includes a stirring forward by Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People. Dr. Frankl’s story is both a deeply inspiring testament to human resilience and a valuable guide to finding one’s unique sense of purpose in life.
Customer Reviews
A Permanent Place on My Bookshelf
It’s hard to believe that after nearly a decade of being a psychotherapist this is my first time reading this book. And this is a book that I will not only personally read year-over-year however, one that I will encourage nearly all of my clients to read. For me, there was never a question about if there was value in my life, there was however, a question of how to go about finding that value. This book, its explanations and through Viktor’s experiences one can easily come to the conclusion about what needs to be done to find value in life and in the present moment. Please, pick up this book and read it. For all that you know, this book may literally help change your life.
THE only book you will ever need for "life"
When I see all the psychology books for self help that how to help people deal with life's problems, I always think of this book. This is not just a story of a Man interred at a concentration camp during the Holocaust and stories of what occurred while he was there. It's much more. I read it 25 years go in college in my freshman philosophy course and I got It.
My 16 year old son went through a terrible drug problem and I handed him this book. He read it in one night bs it turned his life around.
Don't be blind. This is essential to your life's guiding principles.
Purpose in Being
“Man’s Search for Meaning” is one of the most cited works I come across in all my reading. When you see a work referenced so much you go straight to the source for a deeper understanding. After sitting with it for some time, I came away realizing this should be mandatory reading. It’s truth telling and enlightened perspective is so needed today.
Viktor Frankl’s style is succinct and unapologetically candid. The book’s brevity is balanced by its profound & timeless wisdom born out of extreme suffering. His painful retelling of concentration camp survival guides us through unimaginable evils with a tone that almost pities the reader. Frankl’s experience is a bitter pill to take but it offers equal parts hope. Frankl also proves prophetic in his observations on American life and its bastardized outlook on the meaning of life.
It makes sense then that Frankl is so often cited. Any work that explores the 20th century human condition or later would be wise to gleam from Frankl’s astute analysis of man’s search for meaning. Especially in the face of the escalation of horrors enacted on one another in the present age. I came away thinking that hope, meaning, purpose are all found in the maintaining of even the tiniest shard of agency over one’s self. Be it perspective, dignity, or more actionable things.