Product Description
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.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 33 reviews)

Bob by Robert B. Carlson

5 Stars
September 08, 2009
A great book! If you are considering purchasing this book, please do so. You will not be disappointed.

profoundly touching by caramel face (nashville, tennessee)

5 Stars
August 01, 2009
'man's search for meaning' by viktor frankl is a profoundly touching book. i approach most inspirational books with reservations due to my pragmatic nature. an unfounded, brainless, and 'new agey' approach to optimism for the sake of wearing a smile on one's face does not resonate well with me. to my delight, this book is anything but that. i would not even consider it a conduit for optimism per se. it a simply a historical account and analysis of the possible strength that can be garnered in even the worst of suffering. the inspiration derived from this book is simply a by-product of becoming aware of the possibilities of human strength. frankl argues one has the power to take responsibility for his or her actions and reactions no matter how bleak the circumstances. truly imbibing this principle can be life-changing. i highly recommend this book.

Man's Search for Promoting His Psychological Theory by BreitGirl (Chicago, Illinois)

3 Stars
July 18, 2009
I'm actually a little surprised this book has such a high rating. I enjoyed it, and it was a very powerful book but I would have liked to know that this book focused so much on the theory and origin of logotherapy. This book was recommended to me by a family member who thought very highly of this book. Indeed, it was a very powerful book, yet (perhaps since it was written quite a time ago), it didn't connect or flow in the ways I was hoping it to. A book about the horrors of the holocaust- absolutely. A book about the foundations of the author's theory "logotherapy"?- yes. The meaning of life?- eh. The author seems to spend an extended amount of time reflecting on his experiences in Nazi death camps, which were terrible and captivating, but became redundant. And although I had little interest in logotherapy to start with, I was open to learning more about it. I found the descriptions to be quite dense and forced, his attempt to describe logotherapy was sometimes a bit awkward and came off at times like a poorly written textbook. Specifically, the examples given about logotherapy I found sometimes to not be the best, sometimes the examples being more about other theories or not logotherapy at all. Overall, not a bad book at all, I just found the title and descriptions to be misleading. This book has a lot to take in, and once you read it through it maybe worth going back to certain sections to fully be able to digest Frankl's material.op

Frankl's search for meaning by Aleah Bickett

5 Stars
July 09, 2009
Viktor Frankl's voice enraptures clairvoyance. The story is penetrating as well as moving. In his direst moments he maintains a strong voice and shares his introspective meditations. This is a Holocaust book unlike others.

Healing through reason by Simon Cleveland (USA)

4 Stars
June 29, 2009
In Man's search for meaning, Frankel details the account of his survival in a concentration camp and introduces the foundation of his idea on Logotherapy. Many of you are familiar with the atrocities committed by the Nazis in the concentration camps during the Second World War. One only needs to look at the terribly gaunt faces staring from the pictures taken at some of the camps to shudder at the thought of the horrific experiences of these unfortunate people. For the lucky few who survived, only to discover their entire families were exterminated, existence most certainly seemed meaningless. By all accounts, Victor Frankel should have easily succumbed to a destructive behavior immediately after his liberation from a camp in Bohemia. Surviving some of the most horrific encounters of those times, including overcoming a deadly case of typhoid fever, he was informed that his wife, his father, mother, and brother were all killed in various camps. Rather than commit suicide, he struggled to find meaning in his survival. It was this search for meaning that shaped the idea for a new brand in psychotherapy called Logotherapy. Through this therapy, which literary means "healing through reason," he helped numerous patients focus on the challenges of their personal search for meaning in life. It would do justice to mention that he found a way to cope with his losses, marry, have a daughter, two grandchildren, and a great granddaughter. He taught at the University of Vienna until he was 85, wrote over 30 books, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. A very good read and highly recommended for those in search of life's meaning.

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