Man’s Search for Meaning

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
Published: 1946
Narrated by: Simon Vance
Translated By: Ilse Lasch (maybe?) (from German in 1959)
Length: 04:47 (184 pages)

The first half of this is Viktor Frankl’s memoir of the time he spent in various Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz. It’s a harrowing, yet in some ways inspiring, look at daily life in those camps. He was a taken from his job as a psychiatrist, brought to the camp, separated from his family, and stripped of everything, including his life’s work – a draft for his newly developed approach to Psychotherapy called Logotherapy, which would eventually go on to be practiced in a number of countries around the world.

It’s hard to read about life in a concentration camp, but it is important. They had to withstand the most gruesome conditions, and it’s interesting to read an actual first-hand account. Frankl had the unique perspective of having been a psychologist before the war with a focus on treating women and students with suicidal tendencies. He observed the prisoners around him and noted, among other things, that people had an instinct to find meaning in life, and it was that meaning that allowed them to survive and overcome even the most horrific obstacles. When the camp that held Frankl was liberated, he returned to his work to further develop Logotherapy based on his observations.

The second half of the novel is an overview of Logotherapy with examples of how he approached different patients, such as those suffering from depression, those who had lost loved ones, or those diagnosed with a terminal illness. When he spoke of finding a meaning in life, he considered these three options:

1. Creating a work or doing a deed.
2. Experiencing something or encountering someone.
3. The attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering.

The third option was only considered when the first two were impossible, such as with those he observed in the concentration camps. It had to do with how one chose to approach life in the midst of unavoidable suffering rather than some weird Mother Teresa romanticization of suffering.

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

For me, the most interesting part of this book was the memoir in the first half, but I really enjoyed reading about Logotherapy as well. I felt like I could see a loose connection between it and the practices of mindfulness in Buddhism. There are still Logotherapy institutions around the world, although I’m not sure how widely practiced it still is.

I’m so glad I picked this one up. Very interesting and very much recommended.

So live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!

Side-note: I’ve listed Ilse Lasch as the translator because she was the original translator of the German text. Unfortunately, Audible doesn’t list the translators in their book details, and I wasn’t able to find any information elsewhere on any revised editions. Amazon seems to think Simon Vance translated the book, and while he’s one of the most talented narrators out there, I don’t think he’s taken up translating on the side.