Man's Search for Meaning in Metafilter

May 10, 2023 Julie Bestry rated it really liked it

It feels wrong to mark this with fewer than five stars, so I guess I'm rating it more for my experience of the book than the book itself.

I'm as deeply familiar with what happened in concentration camps like the four in which Viktor Frankl was captive as one can be, a generation later and an ocean away; I had many teachers and family friends who were Holocaust survivors. But second-hand familiarity does not mean that one is not deeply affected by reading even what one has read before.

Frankl's n It feels wrong to mark this with fewer than five stars, so I guess I'm rating it more for my experience of the book than the book itself.

I'm as deeply familiar with what happened in concentration camps like the four in which Viktor Frankl was captive as one can be, a generation later and an ocean away; I had many teachers and family friends who were Holocaust survivors. But second-hand familiarity does not mean that one is not deeply affected by reading even what one has read before.

Frankl's narrative in the first section is powerful, perhaps made more so by the fact that he describes almost everything in a muted, understated, unemotional manner. Whether that is because it was his nature a physician and psychiatrist, or because he was writing in his second (or third?) language, I do not know. I only know that what he wrote was powerful, and gut-wrenching, and deeply depressing with a twinge of what is intended to be uplifting.

The second section of the book, the explanation of logotherapy is harder to analyze because that same dry, calm, patient writing is attempting to explain a therapeutic approach both from a scientific (and opaque) perspective as well as a descriptive and (clearer) narrative approach. It's one of those pieces of writing where I feel I am in awe of even what I can barely understand.

I do not imagine logotherapy is the be-all any more than other therapeutic modalities. I do agree that much of 21st century modern life can feel devoid of meaning (especially amid the ludicrous nature of politics, economics, and culture), but I wonder how being elevated by, and finding meaning in, unavoidable suffering squares with, for example, the Buddhist approach.

I've read many references to Frankl's work over the last four decades; I don't know that my understanding (from a philosophical or psychological perspective) is improved by having read the book, but I'm glad to have done so, even if only for the anecdote about the comfort Frankl gave to the rabbi distraught over his wife's death. (I don't want to spoil the power of it, but it's in the logotherapy section of the book in the part subtitled, "The meaning of suffering" across pages 112 and 113.) I will remember this short conversation long after the other details of the book have ebbed away.

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Jul 21, 2017 Catherine rated it it was amazing

This is one of the most powerful and thought provoking books I've ever read. The first half is Frankl's observations about his time in four concentration camps, including Auschwitz. The second is his discussion of his psychological philosophy. Finally there is a postscript. This is one of those works you don't want to miss, and I am sorry it took me so long to learn of and read it. My own life seems greatly imbued with meaning now. I'd add that Frankl has some suggestions about dealing with fear ...more

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Dec 27, 2009 Tasshin Fogleman rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, psychology

I enjoyed the main narrative, but stopped reading the appendix. I can appreciate Frankl's distinctions between logotherapy and psychoanalysis, but the main point is this: Find meaning in life. As the author of the foreword points out, an easy way to do this is to say "Why don't I kill myself?". Well, the answer to that question is the beginning of your search for meaning. Got it! Thanks Dr. Frankl

Also: 100th book for 2010! Woo! Cheers, Autodidactism 2010! ...more

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