Rating: 
Summary: The heart of the matter
Review: One of the greatest books of the 20th century. Some time in the future, when humans finally turn off the TV and start asking themselves why the hell they're here in the firstplace, this book might be of great assistence. Best read annually.
Rating:
Summary: author richard rhodes says-
Review: "victor frankl manages to communicate, with the fewest words possible and no matter our life situation, why life is worth living".
Rating:
Summary: I don't give 5 stars lightly.
Review: Logical and optimistic, Frankl gives humanity a gift greater than we can appreciate. This book is the great cure for our modern malaise.
Rating:
Summary: Introduction to Logotherapy
Review: This is one of my favourite books. It is really two books in one. The first is an account of the author's imprisonment in Auschwitz, and the insights he gained into the individual's search for meaning in suffering while there, and the second book is a more detailed introduction to "Logotherapy". Frankl does not deny the usefulness of Jung's or Freud's work, but he does not stop there -- he continues where they left off. His brand of pychology he calls "logotherapy" -- or "meaning therapy". In this sort of analysis, he tries to get the individual to look at their present life rather than examing complexes, phobias or dreams. Many people who are unsatisfied in their lives can trace this to a nagging sense of meaning starvation. This can be overcome, in Frankl's view. He doesn't give any very good ideas as to how one is to go about doing this in much detail, but then again, this is just an introductory text. The problem of meaning is a topic that also embraces a religious perspective on life, and it may be of interest to those who wish to pursue this further. It is a very inspirational book and contains many helpful insights for those who are struggling with any sort of suffering, pain, or grief, which they are powereless to combat. In such cases, Frankl suggests, one's only positive action may to be to endure the suffering in the right way, and to find meaning and worth in pain. This seems important to me, because life is not all happiness . . . the bad times as well as the good must be redeemed as worthwhile for an individual to feel a true sense of life's worth. Hopefully, in the future, Frankl's ideas will gain more prominence as they seem to offer more promise than most other forms of psychological theories do. A very powerful read.
Rating:
Summary: Learn How to Touch the Future.
Review: Fabulous Book! I can't begin to describe how great this book is! I had the unique chance of reading this book from a friend and it truly is a work of art in itself. Frankl's story of the horrors of the concentration camp is truly frightening, but out this experience that would give many a legitimate reason to give up, he finds the strength, courage and yes, compassion to go on. Why suffer through anything? Why stick with something when it seems almost hopeless? The true lesson of this book is : Through your suffering, you have the chance to touch the future. Frankl reminds us always that no matter what trials we suffer through, our ability to find a meaning in our suffering, to make sure that someone, somewhere learns from it and makes an impact in their life, is truly one of the greatest lessons of all. For such a small price I can't even fathome how useful this lesson is. Everyone who reads this book is a better person at the end. I am...for now I remember that no matter what I go through, I will touch a life, somewhere, somehow.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and Meaningful
Review: Frankl gives us a stunning tale of survival and purpose. Beautiful is not a good enough word.
Rating:
Summary: Moving and Inspirational - Read this Book Now
Review: If you've never been real comfortable with Freud or Jung then this book could be just right for you. It makes so much sense. Society is suffering from an existential vacuum and it has nothing to do with sex. This book is not about the horrifying details of the SS but of the ways and means the prisoners tried to cope with their situation. He does this by dividing the experience into three phases: the period immediately following admission; the period where they are entrenched in camp routine; and the period following liberation. I was also pleased to find a BIG TIME bibliography at the end to help feed my new appetite.
Rating:
Summary: An enlightening, powerful read
Review: I've always found it rather a cliché to say that a book has the power to change one's life. However, of any book that I've ever read, Viktor Frankl's Man's Search For Meaning has come very close to doing so. For the first time, I have found a desire to read and re-read an individual book, and have already asked others to read it as well. While it would be a tad exaggerated to say that it actually changed my life, I can say that it has had some powerful effects on my perspective on life. For the most part, it has reinforced my existing beliefs, but it has also made many things clearer for me, including the importance of one's search for meaning in life. I found many parallels in Frankl's Logotherapy to William Glasser's Choice Theory, but Frankl's views were really more profound in many ways, due partly to his account of life in a concentration camp, and partly to his ties to existentialism. Frankl's portrayal of life in the concentration camp moved me in many ways, and on more than one occasion while reading the book. From the beauty he was able to find in unexpected moments within the hellish world of a concentration camp, to his ability to remove himself from the experience in the most humble manner, Frankl portrayed a life of suffering and anguish beyond words as having rays of hope, and even, for some, a sense of meaning. This is simply remarkable, providing for the reader a new sense of perspective on all aspects of life. Additionally, Frankl's explanations of the psychological stages of an inmate are truly enlightening. Honestly, I find it difficult to find the words to describe the first portion of the book. While it is both informative and illuminating with regard to life in a concentration camp, it is also poignant and truly inspiring, written from a different perspective than most accounts of the same subject matter.
Rating:
Summary: Notes from a journey....
Review: What if, someone asks, life in of itself has no meaning? And what if there were nothing, no savior, no relief, no narcotic or dream--nothing--! to keep us from falling into life's absurdities, crazinesses, meaninglessneses...Would it still be worth living to its fullest? Frankl says of course it is, if we could just keep our hearts hopeful. (My interpretation is, "Things'll be better, if I can make it to Thursday".) Do you see? In spite of the philosophical/scientific lingo on his chapters on logotherapy and the fact that perhaps we'll never be in such dire circumstances as he experienced at the concentration camps, Frankl is telling us, if anything, life is worth living because of all the good things and good people that are here around us and that we can find...even during genocide or war or personal trauma. The Meaning is clear when you reach to find it. But you must reach.
Rating:
Summary: Man's Search For Meaning - Endurance Through Trial
Review: This is by far the most inspiring book I've ever read. Starting with a firsthand account of the holocaust, and finishing with a psychoanalytical approach to the suffering which took place there, Frankl shows us his ability to objectively analyse and draw conslusions from his own experiences. His story is not one of bitterness, as one might expect, but one of survival, of deep meaning and optimism. He looks back to his holocause experience with the eye of one truly at peace with himself and his life. It is truly beautiful that one can endure such a process, even at times, questioning their will to live, and come out liberated both in body and spirit. In his toughest times, Frankl thought frequently of the love he had for his wife; this love, his meaning to survive when in the depths of hell, gave me a new outlook on my life. Frankl's story is a testament to his own philosophy. That he could survive such a trial, when the mind becomes desensitized, focusing only on the day to day camp regimen, surrounded by death at every turn, is a beautiful and inspiring fact. He allows you into the frame of mind of a holocaust victim, and poses the question of how one, once liberated physically from the camps, could even begin to reenter a society so different from the atmosphere they'd come to know. His ability to find his "will to meaning," and optimistaically help others, through logotherapy, to find a meaning in their lives, is, again, truly inspiring. Unlike some of my fellow reviewers, I find this optimism inspiring and wonderful, not naive and idealistic. We should reward him for having achieved peace in his life, especially after an experience like that, not offer pointless pessimism. This book allows you to take an emotional journey into the holocaust, seeing its effects on the mind, and gives an inspiring and optimistic look toward ways to not only survive that experience, but to turn it into something meaningful.
|
