Man's Search for Meaning - Softcover

Frankl, Viktor Emil

Softcover

ISBN 10: 067166736X ISBN 13: 9780671667368

Publisher: Pocket Books (Mm), 1988

Synopsis

An account of the author's life amid the horrors of the Nazi death camps and the formulation of his theory of logotherapy. Logotherapy, the author's own version of existential analysis, is a contemporary and positive approach to the mentally or spiritually-disturbed personality, which stresses man's freedom to transcend suffering and find a meaning to life, regardless of circumstances.

About this title

Review:

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is among the most influential works of psychiatric literature since Freud. The book begins with a lengthy, austere and deeply moving personal essay about Frankl's imprisonment in Auschwitz and other concentration camps for five years and his struggle during this time to find reasons to live. The second part of the book, called "Logotherapy in a Nutshell" describes the psychotherapeutic method that Frankl pioneered as a result of his experiences in the concentration camps. Freud believed that sexual instincts and urges were the driving force of humanity's life; Frankl, by contrast, believes that man's deepest desire is to search for meaning and purpose. Therefore, Frankl's logotherapy is much more compatible with western religions than Freudian psychotherapy. This is a fascinating, sophisticated and very human book. At times, Frankl's personal and professional discourses merge into a style of tremendous power. "Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is", Frankl writes. "After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips." -- Christine Buttery

Review:

One of the ten most influential books in America. --Library of Congress/Book-of-the-Month Club "Survey of Lifetime Readers"

"Viktor Frankl's timeless formula for survival. One of the classic psychiatric texts of our time, Man's Search for Meaning is a meditation on the irreducible gift of one's own counsel in the face of great suffering, as well as a reminder of the responsibility each of us owes in valuing the community of our humanity. There are few wiser, kinder, or more comforting challenges than Frankl's." --Patricia J. Williams, author of Seeing a Color-Blind Future: The Paradox of Race

"Dr. Frankl's words have a profoundly honest ring, for they rest on experiences too deep for deception... A gem of a dramatic narrative, focused upon the deepest of human problems." --Gordon W. Allport, from the Preface

"An enduring work of survival literature." --The New York Times

"[Man's Search for Meaning] might well be prescribed for everyone who would understand our time." --Journal of Individual Psychology

"An inspiring document of an amazing man who was able to garner some good from an experience so abysmally bad... Highly recommended." --Library Journal

"One of the great books of our time." --Harold S. Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People

"One of the outstanding contributions to psychological thought in the last fifty years." --Carl R. Rogers (1959)

About this edition

• Publisher: Pocket Books (Mm)
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 067166736X
• ISBN 13: 9780671667368
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback