Man's Search For Meaning: The classic tribute to hope from the Holocaust

Viktor E Frankl

Dec 2013 · Random House

About this ebook

Over 16 million copies sold worldwide

'Every human being should read this book' Simon Sinek

One of the outstanding classics to emerge from the Holocaust, Man's Search for Meaning is Viktor Frankl's story of his struggle for survival in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. Today, this remarkable tribute to hope offers us an avenue to finding greater meaning and purpose in our own lives.

Ratings and reviews

Important reading at any time but more impactful during the present pandemic. I feel this is WW3, and the enemy is the virus. Of course, the real enemy during any war, is the evil forces at work - EFAW. Humans can take a lot from this book regardless of the times. I don't hear of Logotherapy in the practice of present day psychotherapy. Which is a shame and a setback, IMO. Logotherapy makes a lot of sense to me. It appears to offer more immediate coping tools/skills to the sufferer, whatever their trauma/situation.

The title itself shows our innate desire or strive to search for meaning and purpose in life. With the evolving and changing world with technology, men has enough for himself yet he feels deeply disconnected from his life. We have stop looking for reasons to live or to live life with a purpose instead we are rushed into the world of competition where our values are determine in part by its usefulness. In a sense we undermine the value of dignity over the value of usefulness. I was wrong to think that life is meaningless despite the nihilistic element present. i have always misunderstood myself on questioning the meaning of life, i learned that there is no definite answer to this,but living our life to the best we can at each moment, bring us closer to the answer we seek. I also learned that the search for meaning in life is meaningless unless it is accompany by responsibility- the will to set out your task inasmuch as freedom without responsibility is meaningless. Suffering isn't a necessary to achieve meaning, but when suffering are unavoidable, there is nothing we can change about the past, the least and most dignified act is to change our attitude toward suffering and emerge out of our tragedy with personal triumph, for life meaning is unconditional with or without suffering, it is our utmost responsibility to choose to actualize our potential.

Very interesting book. It is very useful if one wants to put things in perspective , often we forget that we can enrich our lives by pursuing a goal and purpose. At certain parts of the book the reader truly realizes very profound principles of life. The meaning of life is by far the hardest question that each human beings should find answers to, and each answer will be different and the journey to the answer will also be diverse. However this book might be a one of the useful tools that one would need.

About the author

Viktor Frankl was born in Vienna in 1905 and was Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at the University of Vienna Medical School. His wife, father, mother and brother all died in Nazi concentration camps, only he and his sister survived, but he never lost the qualities of compassion, loyalty, undaunted spirit and thirst for life (earning his pilot's licence aged 67). He died in Vienna in 1997.