Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I wanted to read this book ever since I read Stephen Covey mentioning it as an inspiration for his “7 habits of highly effective people”. It is small book written very clearly. Part One describes Viktor Frankl’s experiences in the Nazi concentration camp. This is most touching part of the book and I was shocked to read about the brutality in the concentration camps. It is very inspiring to see that Frankl survived it with lot of kindness and grace. His “Logotherapy” (basically an elaboration of “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how” by Friedrich Nietzsche) is pretty much explained through his experiences in the camp. But in Part two, he explains it more formally using technical terms. This part is rather dry but still very useful. The book concludes with a lecture titled “Tragic optimism” which is optimism in spite of the tragic triad of pain, guilt and death. It is a perfect positive ending to the book.
Read this book to understand and fully embrace life. May be it will also prompt us to search for a meaning in our lives.
Pleasure of books! 