Staff Pick
Man's Search for Meaning is like nothing you've ever read before. The first half of the book depicts Dr. Frankl's four years losing everything in concentration camps — a description so hellish, it leaves you desolate. Shattered by his Holocaust experiences, Frankl struggles to survive after he is freed. In the second half of the book, Frankl shows how that period of his life informs and develops his theory of "logotherapy" — he asserts that life is about finding meaning, what is meaningful to each individual. As excruciating as his experiences are, Frankl's theory is full of love; he is able to find redemption for himself and others. This book is beautifully life-changing. Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life-daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.
When Man's Search for Meaning was first published in 1959, it was hailed by Carl Rogers as "one of the outstanding contributions to psychological thought in the last fifty years." Now, more than forty years and 4 million copies later, this tribute to hope in the face of unimaginable loss has emerged as a true classic. Man's Search for Meaning--at once a memoir, a self-help book, and a psychology manual-is the story of psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's struggle for survival during his three years in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. Yet rather than "a tale concerned with the great horrors," Frankl focuses in on the "hard fight for existence" waged by "the great army of unknown and unrecorded."
Viktor Frankl's training as a psychiatrist allowed him a remarkable perspective on the psychology of survival. In these inspired pages, he asserts that the "the will to meaning" is the basic motivation for human life. This simple and yet profound statement became the basis of his psychological theory, logotherapy, and forever changed the way we understand our humanity in the face of suffering. As Nietzsche put it, "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how." Frankl's seminal work offers us all an avenue to greater meaning and purpose in our own lives-a way to transcend suffering and find significance in the act of living.
Synopsis
A book for finding purpose and strength in times of great despair, the international best-seller is still just as relevant today as when it was first published. "This is a book I reread a lot . . . it gives me hope . . . it gives me a sense of strength."
--Anderson Cooper, Anderson Cooper 360/CNN
Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir of life in Nazi death camps has riveted generations of readers. Based on Frankl's own experience and the stories of his patients, the book argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward. Man's Search for Meaning has become one of the most influential books of our times, selling over twelve million copies worldwide. With a foreword by Harold S. Kushner, Frankl's classic is presented here in an elegant new edition with endpapers, supplementary photographs, and several of Frankl's previously unpublished letters, speeches, and essays.
This book was published with two different covers. Customers will be shipped one of the two at random.
Synopsis
The bestselling Holocaust memoir about finding purpose and strength in times of despair--selected as a Library of Congress "10 Most Influential Books in America" This stunning gift edition of "one of the great books of our time" features new photos, end papers, and Frankl's never-before-published speeches and letters (Harold S. Kushner).
Hailed as "an enduring work of survival literature" by the New York Times, Viktor Frankl's account of his time in the Nazi concentration camps--and his insights into our ability to find meaning despite great adversity--has offered solace and guidance to generations of readers since it was first published in 1946. This stunning hardcover gift edition features previously unpublished material--including letters, speeches, essays, and an 8-page photo insert--that reveal Frankl's enduring lessons on perseverance and strength in even greater depth.
At the heart of Frankl's theory of logotherapy (from the Greek word for "meaning") is a conviction that the primary human drive is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but rather the discovery and pursuit of what the individual finds meaningful. Today, as new generations face new challenges and an ever more complex and uncertain world, Frankl's classic work continues to inspire us all to find significance in the very act of living, in spite of all obstacles.
With more than 16 million copies sold in over 50 languages, this timeless masterpiece is "one of the outstanding contributions to psychological thought" (Carl Rogers) and offers inspiration for coping with suffering and finding your purpose.
Synopsis
Viktor E. Frankl was professor of neurology and psychiatry at the University of Vienna Medical School until his death in 1997. His twenty-nine books have been translated into twenty-one languages. During World War II, he spent three years in Auschwitz, Dachau, and other concentration camps.
Synopsis
A new gift edition of a modern classic, with supplemental photographs, speeches, letters, and essays
The Library of Congress called it “one of the ten most influential books in America,” the New York Times pronounced it “an enduring work of survival literature,” and O, The Oprah Magazine praised it as “one of the most significant books of the twentieth century.” Man’s Search for Meaning has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Viktor Frankl’s classic tribute to coping with suffering and finding one’s purpose continues to give readers solace and inspiration.
This attractive new hardcover gift edition will appeal to long-time admirers and first-time readers alike. Through photographs and supplemental writings, readers see the professional and personal sides of this beloved thinker. In a letter written upon his release from the camps, Frankl describes his pain upon learning that his parents and wife perished; in an essay, he gives hope to readers living in uncertain times; in a eulogy to his deceased colleagues, he speaks of man’s capacity for evil and for good; and in a speech, he memorializes the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi camps. With these writings, readers can gain a fuller understanding of Frankl’s enduring lessons on perseverance and strength.
About the Author
Born in Vienna in 1905, Viktor E. Frankl earned an MD and a PhD 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. Frankl died in 1997.