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Reviews of: Man's Search for Meaning: The Classic Tribute to Hope from the Holocaustby Viktor E. Frankl
Product Description 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 Reviews Courageous This is a very short book and is my only criticism I have of it. I wish it could be longer. The author talks about his time in the concentration camp written in a very matter of fact and authentic way. It is very courageous what he has gone through and inspirational. From his time in the concentration camp, he goes on to talk about the meaning of life and how it matters to those that has survived. Quite possibly one of the best message I have read concerning the meaning of life and I hope to read more on logotherapy for the future. 2008-12-05 Exceptionally deep. What gives this book a very distinguished credibility and authenticity is the pertinent fact that the author formulated his ideas while as a Holocaust prisoner. Immediately the reader is taken out of the comfort zone as the captive and dehumanising realities of such a barbaric context are presented. Frankl looks very very deeply at what provides human strength to get over the most forlorn, hopeless and torturing circumstances. Nietzche's dictum "What doesn't kill us only make us stronger?" planted itself in my mind throughout this book and just did not move. It's very difficult to find any sort of fault with any story where humanity can triumph inhumanity, it really is. There's just such a sense of sadness and misery that the fact that someone can ruminate the meaning of life is relation to love is almost surreal. It's almost as if every veneer of life is stripped back such that all that is left is a naked conciousness which tries to assert itself like a immutable flame which must burn for some intrinsic, innate reason that can only be explained by a very penetrating and intense love. It's not a scientific approach with a ground breaking theory. It's a remarkable human story containing a most precious and valid reflection from an intelligent man who was lucky and strong enough to make it through something our worst nightmares could not even come close to. 2008-09-16 Throw out your self-help books! This is an utterly remarkable book for so many reasons. The work as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts. What I mean by this is the following: the book is not great psychology, nor great philosophy nor even great narrative. And yet, as a whole it is a truly great book. Why? Because it makes a definitive impact. I cannot say that I walked away from this book unchanged. I suppose it is Viktor Frankl himself who makes all the difference -- in him you find a truly humane, humble and ultimately wise human being. I was truly impressed to hear him quoting Nietzsche while in a concentration camp; this at a time when Nietzsche's work had been distorted and used to promote anti-Semitism by the Nazis. One warning though -- his existentialist philosophy is somewhat outdated and really needs to be complemented by a contemporary understanding of human nature. If this review had been written near the time that this book was first published I would have given it, without reservation, five stars. 2008-09-08 The search for meaning through experience and psychology I was shocked by the small size when I received this book from Amazon. I had heard so much about the book, and expected a great deal from it. Compared to most books in the self-help section, this book is tiny, but Frenkl conveys his story clearly and succinctly in 150 pages. Assuming that his readers will have read or heard the more gruesome details of the concentration camp, Frenkl describes the daily reality of a prisoner's experience. With poignant moments scattered throughout the first (autobiographic) part of the book, he describes how people survived, supported others and died in that world. As a psychologist, he also tells the reader how and why he and others made some of their choices during that time. On its own this is a gripping read. In the second part of the book, he relates this experience to his own form of psychology - logotherapy. This form of psychology focuses on man's search for the purpose and meaning in life. This part of the book becomes quite academic at times, but is well worth persevering with, to put the earlier part into current context. 2008-09-01 Prepare to be inspired and humbled This book was recomneded to me by a good friend, I was hesitant to read it due to the concentration camp element being very upsetting and emotional however I am pleased to say there is enough information about the author first to warm you up and also a lot of reasoning behind his choices of the content he has included and his decision not to go into too much detail over the experiences in the concentration camp, it allows you to understand what was going on in the minds of the prisoners without being too upsetting it also stays very true to the subject matter and only delves a little deeper into the suffering when its necassary to explaine some very difficult subjects, how the choices that we make affect our lives and how ultimatley no matter what hand fate deals us we still have the freedom to choose how we cope a humbling read inspiring and authentic a must. 2008-08-19 |
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