Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor Emil Frankl, William J. Winslade
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Man's Search for Meaning

Updated: 7 Sep 2020
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 those he treated 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 by the Library of Congress and the Book-of-the-Month Club 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. Born in Vienna in 1905 Viktor E. Frankl earned an M.D. and a Ph.D. from the University of Vienna. He published more than thirty books on theoretical and clinical psychology and served as a visiting professor and lecturer at Harvard, Stanford, and elsewhere. In 1977 a fellow survivor, Joseph Fabry, founded the Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy. Frankl died in 1997. Harold S. Kushner is rabbi emeritus at Temple Israel in Natick, Massachusetts, and the author of several best-selling books, including When Bad Things Happen to Good People.William J. Winslade is a philosopher, lawyer, and psychoanalyst at the University of Texas Medical School in Galveston.
Actor, TV Host
23 followers
53 FLIISTs
over 4 years ago
This is a book I try to read every couple of years. It’s one of the most inspirational books ever written. What is the meaning of life? What do you have when you think you have nothing? Amazing and heartbreaking stories. This is a book that should be in everyone’s library.
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Writer, Business Coach
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91 FLIISTs
over 4 years ago
"I don't give a damn how rich you are financially or how abundant you are with your family or love, we all experience extreme stress in our life at some point," Robbins says. "It's the ultimate equalizer. If it's not you, it will be someone in your family, and so the ability to find meaning in the most difficult times, I think, is one of the most important skills of life, and there's probably not a greater example than that book."
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Blogger
31 followers
175 FLIISTs
4 years ago
I suddenly feel better equipped for in case--I know that sounds a bit weird to say, but in case something really bad happens, I feel like from reading this book, I'm better equipped to know how to handle it. That's a bit naive to say, but I really think there are some important stuff in here.
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Blogger, Business Coach
7 followers
89 FLIISTs
4 years ago
"He who has a WHY to live can bear almost any HOW." --Nietzsche If you haven’t read Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, you must!! Life changing.
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4 followers
42 FLIISTs
over 3 years ago
This book is one of those beautiful accounts of a terrible time in our history. His calm and sagaciousness, while witnessing one horror after another played out during his time in three separate concentration camps, is awe inspiring. He speaks to the strength of the human spirit and there is a sentence in the book that made me put it down and think — "I stopped asking myself what I expected out of life, and asked myself what life expected out of me.”
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4122 FLIISTs
over 3 years ago
The most recent non-fiction book I read is Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl.
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Writer, Journalist
7 followers
78 FLIISTs
over 3 years ago
Looks at how we find purpose by dedicating ourselves to a cause, learning to love and finding a meaning to our suffering.
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