Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

Summary: Viktor E. Frankl (Psychiatrist and Holocaust Survivor) takes the reader through his analytical, philosophical, and psychological factual view of his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during WW2. Through the bleak and mentally destroying conditions, he continually finds the will and mental strength to push through and record his observations from his own experiences and writings and the perspectives and actions of his fellow prisoners/colleagues. To then become the founder of a branch of psychology/psychoanalysis called logotherapy, which encapsulates all of his personal beliefs and experiences into the field of mental health.

When I first started this book, I knew the subject matter dealt with the details of the concentration camps and the horrid conditions that many prisoners were unjustly subjected too during WW2. Even with this knowledge, it was hard to stomach the details which Viktor E. Frankl gives of his own observations of death, decay, filth, anguish, and disease riddled throughout the first half of the book. But it's a necessary part of the whole to fully understand the mental and physical battles that he and his colleagues had to face every day in order to have the second half of the book, which delves further into the psychology parts, to be far more impactful than if the psychologically bits were read separately without context.

I'd say that, though I didn't go into this book with the mindset of needing a change or struggling with anything in particular, I got far more out of this book than I was originally expecting. Even if I didn't fully grasp the more complex psychology terminology or historical significance to some references made about ancient psychologists, I still understood the bigger picture that Frankl was getting at and it made me want to start looking inward a bit more and seeing if there are aspects of my life that I can change for the better in the future. Also helps that Frankl repeats the more complex aspects of his therapy throughout the book, so I can better grasp at how certain events or ideas connect back to his terminology.

Also helps that the book, at least my specific edition, is only one-hundred and eighty pages, so going back to specific sections to reread a powerful insight, essay, or speech for when I need a refresher in philosophy or psychology would be easier than scouring a thousand page tome of other major philosophy/psychology works I've attempted and failed to read in the past. Man's Search for Meaning doesn't waste time in telling you want it wants to tell you, and Viktor E. Frankl wrote about his survival, observations, and ideas with such passion and vigor that I couldn't help but want to continually read his and writing and thoughts in long and very slow reading sessions till the very end.