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Psychology

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
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Man's Search for Meaning

by Viktor Frankl

In Man’s Search for Meaning Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist who survived the Nazi concentration camps, argued for the existentialist belief that even in the worst possible conditions, as human beings we still have control over how we think about our situation. The original title of the book, when it was first published in 1946, was Saying Yes to Life Anyway: A Psychologist Survives the Concentration Camp.

Recommendations from our site

“What’s interesting about his account, which I found absolutely fascinating, is the way he explores the importance of meaning in life as the key to survival.” Read more...

The best books on Auschwitz

Mary Fulbrook, Historian

“Frankl says, let me tell you and show you how I and my friends lived in the concentration camps. And if I can do it there, and suffer at that level, so you can you.” Read more...

The best books on High Performance Psychology

Michael Gervais, Psychologist

“Walk into any bookstore and somewhere there’s a shelf that’s labelled self-help. In my view, you can just ignore the whole shelf and read Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning.” Read more...

The best books on Navigating the Future: a reading list for young adults

Chris Kutarna, Political Scientist

“I chose this book because it’s an incredibly powerful and moving example of what existentialist thought can actually be for in real life, what good it can do, how it can help people.” Read more...

The best books on Existentialism

Sarah Bakewell, Philosopher

“He was a psychiatrist in Vienna in the 1930s and then got carted off to Auschwitz with all his family. He was the only one that survived and he wrote this book.” Read more...

The best books on Overcoming Insecurities

Robert Kelsey, Entrepreneurs & Business People

“Frankl’s time in concentration camps was enlightening for him. He noticed that those most likely to survive had what he called a ‘will to meaning’.” Read more...

The best books on The Art of Living

Roman Krznaric, Philosopher

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