Just finished reading “Man’s Search For Meaning” by Victor Frankl, a highly acclaimed book that makes it to a lot of people’s must-read lists. Over the years, I have noticed that most book readers quickly establish frequency spectrums as far as topics that land well with them go. And that spectrum becomes more and more inflexible as you go along. This particular book has a knack of dividing readers to an extent where people either give it an almost 5-star or a sub-2-star score. You end up either thinking of this as one of the best books you’ve ever read or the subject will simply not resonate with you.
As for me – this book has definitely made it to my top-3 and I have tabled this book as one that I will read again within the next 2 years.
Victor Frankl was an Austrain Psychiatrist who is credited with some highly acclaimed work in the area of psychology. This book basically has two separate parts. In the first part, he chronicles his experiences as an inmate in a concentration camp during WW2 – as seen with the expert eye of a psychologist. He smoothly bridges over to the second part where he outlines a brand of psychology that he has defined – logotherapy. The author makes a very compelling case for how an individual can find meaning at every juncture of his/her life, including situations of extreme distress or adversity.
I personally assess non-fiction books based on whether I learnt something that will make me think differently or react to a situation differently or change/refine/sharpen my own life’s direction or if it simply fortifies view-points and beliefs that I have already held….with lesser clarity perhaps. This book checks off almost all of these criteria.
An Amateur's Blog - Sachin Desai 