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Summary: good book for anyone
Review: I write this article as I still read this book out of immense inspiration. We, humans have this curiosity to discover ourselves and if we don't really put an effort to find an answer, we at least put a lot of effort in hiding and forgetting this maddening quest. It takes various forms, from intoxication and debauchery to art and science. But, there is no peace until we find an answer to this question that we have in our mind. The lives of great geniuses of the past and all their sad stories stand witness to my above hypothesis. We feel victimized by the society or god for some reason or the other. But least do we realize that irrespective of all the tumult that happens around, we are bestowed with something that the rest of the animal kingdom doesn't have-spiritual freedom. To decide how we want to feel at any given instant- Freedom that we yarn for but constantly run away from.
This is something everyone is aware of but this wonderful book logically explains it in a easily understandable way to transfer the thought into the conscious part of our mind from the subconscious or unconscious. A must read for everyone.
Many see this book as a book for professional success-sure it will help, but more than that it is a spiritual master piece.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent - A must read
Review: In a world filled with paradoxes and contradictions, Frankl's work reaches across almost forty years and not only touches the heart but brings conviction. There is purpose in life, in suffering, indeed there is meaning in individual existence!!! I would reccommend this book to anyone on their own personal journey towards living life to its full, regardless of individual circumstance.
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Summary: Are you struggling with purpose?
Review: How would one survive in the Nazi concentration camps? Ask Austrian Psychiatrist Dr. Victor Frankl. Having spent a few years in the death camps the images he explains in the first half of his book is just unthinkable. The torture these people endured during these times are simply hard to believe.
Frankl's graphic details of the killings, beatings and other inhumane activites makes the read wonder if there is any hope for them. This is the same type of question people ask when they loose clarity in their purpose. When there is a sudden change in their life, one may ask "What am I going to do now?"
Frankl's introduction to logotherapy is fairly basic. No matter who or where we are, we can always choose our own attitude. Further, he says that everybody who finds their purpose will persevere to leave their legacy. Whether it is in business, family or a particular mission, once your purpose is discovered you will get to your destination.
Frankl's phylosiphy helped him and others during the war to make it out of the camps before the Americans invaded Germany and the camps were raided. He believed he was designated to do better things and being a department head in a university is just one of them. Some of the details are a bit difficult to stomach, but his story is nothing less than compelling!
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Summary: A must book for making a meaningful life
Review: This book is very insightful in helping one find meaning in one's life as formulated in the methods of logotherapy which was developed by a Viktor Frankl, a survivor of one of the worst possible existences in the modern era, the Nazi concentration camps. The first part of the book Viktor recalls his experiences at the camps and all that he learned and gained from them to develop his concepts. The remaining part analyses in more detail logotherapy. This book is a must for all of who find emptiness in our lives or are hurt by anxiety or other concerns. The book is easy to read.
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Summary: Viktor E. Frankl's Man's Seach for Meaning
Review: The following is a review I wrote for my Senior Philosophy/Bioethics class:Since its first publication in 1946, Viktor E. Frankl's landmark book has sold over two million copies. From his horrific experiences in Nazi death camps, Frankl has extracted a moving, uplifting message of that uniquely human longing: the need for meaning. Frankl delves into the depths of his own experience to extricate a highly provocative and extraordinary suggestion; that man's primary motivating force is his search for meaning. Frankl holds that man cannot exist or live with any hope or joy if he cannot find meaning to do so.
Frankl's stays in Auschwitz and Dachu provided him with the opportunity to examine human behavior under the most strenuous of circumstances. He was able to separate himself from his emotions and allow himself to examine his compatriots in the light of his psychoanalytical training. The account of his time in the camps veers away from recounting the terrible events, towards focusing instead on the prisoners' reactions to them; the way they coped and how some survived where others couldn't.
Frankl's book is composed of several parts. The first section is a narrative of his concentration camp experiences. The second and third sections of the book summarize and expand upon his new form of therapy; logotherapy. The basic tenant of his logotherapy is the concept that the primary motivating force in a man's life is his search for meaning. Hence, the title of the book. Frankl illustrates his new concept through many examples. From the men joking in the trenches they were digging to his meditation on his wife and his love for her. Frankl kept himself alive through his dedication to optimism and his hope for the future. He calls his optimism, 'tragic optimism' for it is only through the experience of tragedy, Frankl says, that we can come to know the extent of our imagination and thus, our optimism. Frankl says that this tragic optimism is borne only out of dire situation such as his experience.
In the latter half of the book, Frankl goes on to explain his new philosophy and therapy model. He uses the example of the man who decided not to work one day in the camp to illustrate how some men found the will to live and others did not. He holds that this will to live is created as a direct result of a man's desire for meaning and the ensuing search for the same. He explains that a human's reaction to a gives set of circumstances is not defiantly controllable. A man's emotional reaction and response are fluid and private; unable to be controlled by any external force lesser than his own internal will.
While not discussing his ideas in religious terms, per se, Frankl's Jewish identity seeps through the books lines and becomes quite evident at times. While it may be difficult to reconcile strict existentialism with true Judaism, Frankl's devotion to his faith and to his theory are, quite evidently, equal. While he usually discusses an inner being and an 'emotional centre', Frankl's language sometimes slips back into his common tongue and he refers to this "centre" as a soul.
This book is a wonderful investment. Its succinct and direct analysis of the human condition is an easy read for even the most novice. It explains the concepts of logotherapy in language that is unencumbered by complexities of language or technical terminology. Frankl was a common man writing for others in his style. Initially intended to be published anonymously, Man's Search for Meaning is as deep and profound an analysis of the human condition as there has ever been. Written by a man on the forefront of a disaster of epic proportions, it provides the reader with a refreshing gust of clear reasoning and profound opportunity for self-analysis and self-improvement.
Rating: 
Summary: an interesting book providing a thoughtful insight on life
Review: For those who have ever pondered the meaning of life, this book provides an interesting insight. In the book, Frankl, tells his story of life in a Nazi concentration camp but rather than focusing mainly on the horrors of camp life, he uses specific examples of mundane life in order to support his main purpose of demonstrating that even in the worst circumstances there can be a meaning for life. A recurring idea is "He who has a 'why' to live for can bear with almost any 'how'." (Friedrich Nietszche) This sentence has the utmost importance for Frankl because a man without purpose cannot and does not live in a concentration camp. Repeatedly Frankl describes those who had given up hope on ever getting anything better out of life and then articulates, "...it did not really matter what we expected from life but rather what life expected from us." His idea is that meaning in life does not come from the "active creation of something of value" but rather in how we handle life, the decisions we make in the best and worst of circumstances in response to the tasks that life has given us. It only takes a few hours to read but still has a lasting effect on the reader well after finishing. One may not agree with his view but in my opinion it is an understanding worth considering.
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Summary: Great Book
Review: This book is great for two reasons.
1. Everybody knows of the horrors of the holocaust. We all know of the physical trauma and fear felt by all of the prisoners. We can't truly know all of the hurt done. This book doesn't go into the horrible details, but into the mind of a prisoner. There had to have been absolute trauma knowing one was a moment away from death. In this book, however, Viktor E. Frankl tells how the prisoners mentally survived. It was through a collective will to get through each passing day. One story tells how one person lost the will to live it was obvious that they weren't going to live. The going into of an individuals mind through the holocaust and the different perspective of horrors make this a great book.
2. It offers principles and help to find meaning in life. Frankl's logo therapy is one way he identifies to help people examine his/her life. One doesn't need to have his logo therapy but identify principles in the book to help find meaning. The principle taught that one must make the best of whatever situation is present in life. He was in the holocaust and managed to survive. There is always a choice and only you can decide how you will react. It would have been easy to give up and lose character but Frankl never did. Frankl gives principles to live by regardless of situation.
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Summary: excellent book, some flawed reasoning
Review: ... A man with such intellect should realize that while life can be *given* a meaning, it can no longer be denied that the idea of an inherent one is ludicrous. I'm certain that if I'd been through Dachau or Auschwitz, my faith in "god" would be pretty much shot to hell. The only meaning life can have is secular, in the end.
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Summary: Does life have a meaning?
Review: Yes is the testament of Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist and neurologist who was imprisoned at Auschwitz and endured years of brutality under the shadow of the gas chamber. So what is the meaning of life? You are, according to Frankl. Neither joy nor suffering can give a man's life any meaning. It is the man who gives suffering, joy, or whatever his life contains a meaning, the way he accepts his fate and all that it entails. Regardless of external circumstances, there is a spark of freedom which enables man to fight or despair. To choose to be a demon or a saint. Agree or disagree, this book has power because it is written by someone who has been to hell and back. Who has seen it all with his own eyes. It's an antidote to the 'bumper sticker' feel-good juvenile slush that passes for philosophy nowdays. Whatever this book is, it's not superficial.
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Summary: The Meaning of A True Humanitarian
Review: This book portrays the incredible journey of Dr. Viktor Frankl. He survived the horrors of Auschwitz and Dachau, but his brutal experience ironically served as the basis for his life's work. He created a branch of psychiatry called logotherapy, which signifies, "therapy of meaning." The work is compelling, candid, motivating, and at times, humorous. Dr. Frankl has an uplifting writing style, and is an excellent observer of events that most people would banish forever from their memories. His unselfish desire to tell his story, despite the painful reminders, should be appreciated by all who cherish human dignity. Dr. Frankl had a rare perspective. A trained medical doctor with a specialty in psychiatry, he was placed in a unique situation. He was able to observe his own reactions to the daily rigors of a concentration camp, along with the behavior of his captors and fellow prisoners from the eyes of a psychiatrist. He chronicles the cruelty not only of the Nazis, but also from some of the other prisoners. Yet throughout his brutal experience, he was able to find meaning in his own suffering. Unlike most of us, he was able to translate his own suffering to help his fellow man. Upon his arrival at Auschwitiz, a manuscript containing his life's work was taken from him. From that point on, he relinquished his former life. Very few people learned that he was a doctor, although there were times when he volunteered his services to care for typhus patients. It is ironic that the lost manuscript, his "mental child," did not force him to lose all hope. If anything, the reader sees that Dr. Frankl's loss became his meaning for life. His documented experience is now the world's collective gain. This book is a tremendous work of one man's search for meaning, his survival against all odds, along with the triumphant victory of his human spirit. In a time when many of us question the meaning of life after the terrorist bombings, Dr. Frankl's lucid commentary provides a welcome elixir. His message provides hope, courage, and inspiration. Two quotes stand out: "We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms, to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." And the second. "Live as if you were living for the second time, and had acted as wrongly the first time as you are about to act now." Thank you for the opportunity to review this inspirational story.
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