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Man's Search for Meaning
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Man's Search for Meaning Mass market paperbound - 2006

by Viktor E. Frankl; Foreword by Harold S. Kushner; Afterword by William J. Winslade


About this book

Man's Search for Meaning is a book by Viktor Frankl that describes his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during World War II and his development of logotherapy, a psychotherapeutic approach that emphasizes finding meaning in life. The book is divided into two parts; the first part chronicles Frankl's experiences as a prisoner, while the second part focuses on his theory of logotherapy. Frankl wrote the book in a reported nine days. Originally titled Ein Psycholog erlebt das Konzentrationslager (A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp), it was released in German in 1946. The English translation was published in 1959 by Beacon Press under the title From Death-Camp to Existentialism: A Psychiatrist’s Path to a New Therapy. The title was changed to Man’s Search for Meaning in 1962. In a 1991 survey by the Library of Congress, readers voted Man’s Search for Meaning one of the 10 most influential books in their lives. At the time of Frankl’s death in 1997 the book had sold more than 10 million copies. It has been translated into over 24 languages. 



Summary

This author’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 he labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of those he treated in his practice, he 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. His 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.

From the publisher

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.

First Edition Identification


The first English language edition of Man's Search for Meaning was published in1959 by Beacon Press in Boston, under the title From Death-Camp to Existentialism: A Psychiatrist’s Path to a New Therapy. The first editions under the title Man's Search for Meaning were published in 1962.

Details

  • Title Man's Search for Meaning
  • Author Viktor E. Frankl; Foreword by Harold S. Kushner; Afterword by William J. Winslade
  • Binding Mass Market Paperbound
  • Edition [ Edition: Repri
  • Pages 165
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Beacon Press, Boston
  • Date June 14, 2006
  • ISBN 9780807014295 / 080701429X
  • Weight 0.2 lbs (0.09 kg)
  • Dimensions 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.6 in (17.02 x 10.41 x 1.52 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), Logotherapy
  • Dewey Decimal Code B

Media reviews

One of the great books of our time. —Harold S. Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People

"One of the outstanding contributions to psychological thought in the last fifty years."—Carl R. Rogers (1959)

"An enduring work of survival literature." —New York Times

"An accessible edition of the enduring classic. The spiritual account of the Holocaust and the description of logotherapy meets generations' need for hope."—Donna O. Dziedzic (PLA) AAUP Best of the Best Program

About the author

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. Harold S. Kushner is rabbi emeritus at Temple Israel in Natick, Massachusetts, and the author of bestselling books including When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Living a Life That Matters, and When All You've Ever Wanted Isn't Enough.

William J. Winslade is a philosopher, lawyer, and psychoanalyst who teaches psychiatry, medical ethics, and medical jurisprudence at the University of Texas Medical School in Galveston.
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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… Read More
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by Frankl, Viktor E.; Winslade, William J. [Afterword]; Kushner, Harold S. [Foreword];

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