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Summary: An enlightening and inteligent view of terror.
Review: Man's Search For Meaning is a great way to get into the mind of a World War II concentration camp survivor. I found Frankl's story to be fascinating. I was especially intrigued by the fact that he found himself surviving solely on the momory of his beloved wife and the craving to roconstruct his confiscated manuscript.
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Summary: this book gives me second chance to live life!
Review: there is more to life than the usual things that we see, hear and know about. accordingly, the duty of man is to enjoin the good, forbid the evil, believe in his creator and the day of judgement.
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Summary: This is the most inspiring book I have ever read.
Review: God or a Higher Power must have held Victor Frankl's hand while he wrote the first part of the book. It is awe-inspirinig. I have myself read many times certain parts of this book, in times of great sadness, distress, etc. Frankls words to his campmates in the scene when many are in the typhus camp, is something any soul can get hope from, it is truly a masterpiece. Thank you Victor.
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Summary: ...relevant to our understanding of our world today
Review: Just reading the reviews of this book makes it required reading in my understanding of our world to day!
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Summary: I love science -- but how would Shakespeare have been...
Review: I have to agree slightly that, as a non-fiction, supposedly philosophical book, one might expect more of a scientific, "hypothesis-proof" structure. However, science is not the only way of approaching these things. Where would literature be if it was all scientific? OK, that's not the best view. How about this -- isn't there room for crossover between what we so readily divide into "science" and "fantasy"?? Isn't there science and philosophy in literature, and can't there also be literature in science and philosophy? Viktor Frankl has written a book you may not have expected -- neither did I. Nevertheless, there is truth in his view of our ability to give ourselves meaning. There is a scientific way of approaching this -- quantum physics, biology, anthropology, cultural theories and neurological studies of the "will" in the mind -- but Frankl has approached truth in a different way. Namely, through his experience and that! of others. Don't read this book expecting to be given "the answer" -- read it expecting to be given food for thought.
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Summary: written in blood
Review: For all the reviews this work has recieved that cry for "scientific method" and fact, I ask you to remove your isolated, removed, academe blinders and look closer. You may find a work that contains both abstract theory meshed with concrete life experience. Nietzsche states the only writing he trusts is that which is "written with blood". Read closer and you might find the sublime scientific method evident in passages like: "We who lived in the concentration camps can still remember the men who went from hut to hut comforting others giving up their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number but they offer sufficent proof that everything can be taken away from a man except on thing--the last of his freedoms. To choose one's attidute in any given circumstance, to choose one's own way." The existental reality of the choice and the harsh grim reality of suffering. Read with an objective mind but look for writing which contains the ! ! depth of genuine human experience. This work is priceless.
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Summary: An astonishing combination of humanity and intellectualism.
Review: I am a psychiatric physician who requires that all my patients read this short book upon entering treatment with me. This is really two separate wonderful small books: First it is a unique survival manual, with the human perspective from someone who escaped death and unspeakable horror only by amazing luck. The second half of Man's Search for Meaning is another small book. It outlines a combination of spiritual values and existential insight that precisely matches my own. Anyone considering psychotherapy should read this simple yet brillant book.
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Summary: Big dissapointment
Review: Reading this book was largely a waste of my time. Frankel does not set forth a literary experiment in an attempt to prove a hypothesis. Rather, he gives the hypothesis and then assumes the hypothesis to prove his beliefs. Frankel commits the cardinal sin of writing a persuasive work: he assumes his theory is correct instead of proving it. He never even attempts to prove it. This man needs to learn the scientific method. As a persuasive work, this volume is woefully inadequate.
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Summary: wonderful book about responsibility
Review: This is a wonderful book about responsibility, but not guilt... about peace of mind, even in war... about mental health, despite fierce tragedies.I think anyone who has considered seeing a therapist or is currently seeing one might read this book and find good concrete results. Those people lucky enough to already have learned the logotherapy approach, even if new to the terminology, will find in the book a path to reassuring others. Even if you've never given one moment's thought to life's truths, this book will be meaningful for you.
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Summary: Very good overall.
Review: Very rewarding to read, but I can see why some readers find little compensation for having picked the book up. I think one needs to have a specific goal in mind before reading it. I don't know if it's a very content-rich book, and it seems to be geared towards a specific audience, as opposed to one of Dale Carnegie's gems. But consider this: it's short. With most everyone's busy schedule, that should compensate for it's lack of universality. You'll be better off for having read it, I believe, and you'll come away from it with a better understaing of your potential.
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