 How to deal with unimaginable horror
I read this book when I was in a very tough place based on the recommendations of a surgeon who unlike many surgeons was interested in my emotional well-being as well. I was hit by a semi-truck while riding my bicycle and spent months in a very difficult place. This book provided some solace although my situation was not nearly as bad as that suffered by the author and the other victims of the holocaust. The author attempts a very difficult task, namely to develop tools for people to find meaning in some unimaginably painful situations. Situations where finding the power to cope and find meaning seem to be pointless. The author describes how he found the emotional strength to survive the concentration camps and come out to be a man who is not broken by circumstances. I couldn't relate to all of his advice but I will remember one thing that the author advised. When in an unbelievably dire and hopeless situation and all other meaning is lost, you can find meaning in suffering and dying with dignity. When all bets are off, you shouldn't lose your humanity.
 Brilliant and Meaningful
A friend recommended this book after a discussion of "character motivation" in science fiction. I am so glad he did. Frankl was a psychiatrist working on a theory of what motivated mankind when he was thrown in a Nazi concentration camp. He survived in large part because he had something to live for--the publication of his work. The first part of the book details survival within the concentration camp. This part alone is worth the book's price. Unlike Hollywood depictions of camps, he shows what the inmates actually had to do in order to survive (they would do just about anything not to be on a "list") and he even shows the occasional humanity of some of the guards, even, amazingly, the final commandant of his camp.
The second part of the book is a brief summary of Frankl's theories called logotherapy. I can't say I'm an expert on this; he published over 20 volumes on the subject. But what I read here is fascinating. In summary, he believes that man's search for meaning is his primary motivation, unlike Freudian psychology which teaches that man's search for pleasure is his primary motivation.
I plan to reread this book regularly. Truly inspirational.
A must read
This book is a must read for anyone in the field of psychology, and anyone in the field of life...everyone. Frankl intersperses his experiences in the concentration camp with an exploration of psychology and resilience in the face of the worst circumstances known to mankind. The existential results of his explorations and thoughts are incredible, and they are balm to anyone suffering a psychic or a circumstantial wound... that we have a will to find meaning as human beings. The final lines of the book before the postscript sum up the state of mankind: "...man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright..." and like the rest of the book, use a straightforward prose to convey the richest of ideas.
This is an incredible book.
I have read this book many, many times. These are the words I live by. If I was told that I could only own one book for the rest of my life, this would be it. Viktor Frankl's harrowing testimony of surviving in a concentration camp seems incomprehensible. Even more unbelievable is the attitude he adopts during his struggle as he remains apart from his family, starving, cold, and forced to perform hard labor with no relief in sight. Through it all, he decides that even though his body is being held captive, he is still free to control his mind and his attitude.
When he is ultimately liberated from the concentration camp, rather than be bitter and remorseful, he uses his tragic experiences as a basis for logotherapy, a counseling theory that helps people to find meaning in their adversity. He also influences a generation of existential psychotherapists including another favorite writer of mine, Irvin Yalom. This is an incredible book that significantly altered my life and way of thinking. I recommend it to everyone.
Good book
I had to read this book for a class, but it turned out to be a very interesting and good book to read.
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