Review: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

4 stars for Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl.

It is my belief that at some point in time during one's lifetime, one will question the purpose of life and thus begins the quest to search for its meaning. If you are reading this for the same reason as I do.. Welcome to the club!

This is a book about survival.

The first half offers personal experiences of an inside story from the Auschwitz concentration camp, told by the author himself as one of the survivors. He conveys to readers by way of concrete examples, such as situations in a concentration camp, that life holds a potential meaning under any conditions, even the most miserable ones. His account is not so much about what he has suffered and lost, but more so about the sources of his strength to survive.

The second half is about logotherapy, a theory developed by the author who is a neurologist as well as psychiatrist, based on the belief that the human person is motivated by an inner pull to find a meaning in life. And by identifying that purpose in life, logotherapy can help to overcome all struggles.

Dr. Frankl's theories are heavily influenced by his personal experiences of suffering and loss in Nazi concentration camps. He believes that we may not be able to control what happens to us in life but we can always control what we will feel and do about what happens to us; as long as we retain the freedom to choose how we will respond, we are never left with nothing.

I like and enjoy reading the first half of this book where psychological lessons can be learnt from the author's Auschwitz experience. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the latter half. The in-depth studies, discussions and explanatons on logotherapy is just too philosophical for me.

Having reached the end of the book, when all is said and done, it all boils down to "having a Why to live for will enable us to bear the How". The greatest task for any person is to find meaning in his or her life.

Man's Search for Meaning. Have you started yours? If you have not, this book is as good a place as any to start.


Publisher: Beacon Press
Publication date: 15 Oct 1992

*** Favourite quote ***

Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. One must have a reason to “be happy.” Once the reason is found, however, one becomes happy automatically.

As we see, a human being is not one in pursuit of happiness but rather in search of a reason to become happy, last but not least, through actualizing the potential meaning inherent and dormant in a given situation.

~ Man's Search for Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl

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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 others he treated later 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 for the Library of Congress 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.

*Blurb from Goodreads*

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