A book for finding purpose and strength in times of great despair, the international best-seller is still just as relevant today as when it was first published.
“This is a book I reread a lot . . . it gives me hope . . . it gives me a sense of strength.”
—Anderson Cooper, Anderson Cooper 360/CNN
Man’s Search for Meaning is more relevant than ever. Viktor Frank’s message provides hope even in the darkest of times. It has sold more than 16 million copies in 50 languages. A reader survey for the Library of Congress that asked readers to name a “book that made a difference in your life” found Man’s Search for Meaning among the 10 most influential books in America.
Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945, Frankl labored in 4 different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. Frankl’s theory—known as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos (“meaning”)—holds that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.
“This is a book I reread a lot . . . it gives me hope . . . it gives me a sense of strength.”
—Anderson Cooper, Anderson Cooper 360/CNN
“This is a book I try to read every couple of years. It’s one of the most inspirational books ever written. What is the meaning of life? What do you have when you think you have nothing? Amazing and heartbreaking stories. This is a book that should be in everyone’s library.”
—Jimmy Fallon
“One of the great books of our time.”
—Harold S. Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People
“One of the outstanding contributions to psychological thought in the last fifty years.”
—Carl R. Rogers (1959)
“An enduring work of survival literature.”
—New York Times
- “How Where the Crawdads Sing Differs From the Novel, ” Movieweb, book mentioned in piece
- “Coronavirus reading: 10 inspirational books that offer advice on how to live in tough times,” USA Today, included in Coronavirus reading roundup
- “Entire CNN coronavirus town hall (April 2),” CNN, Anderson Cooper mentioned the book as one of his favorite books in a coronavirus town hall video with Dr. Sanjay Gupta
- “The Moral Meaning of the Plague,” The New York Times, quoted in op-ed
- “Beacon Press Targets a Classic Title to Indie Booksellers,” Publishers Weekly, feature
- The Sunday Edition/CBC Radio (Canada), hour-long special, 9/1/2017
- Man's Search for Meaning is on Powell's list of "25 Books to Read Before You Die."
- The Amazon editorial team called Man's Search for Meaning a "life-changing book" and included it in a list of 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime, 2/4/14
- HuffPost Religion excerpted one of the selected letters from Man's Search for Meaning, 10/28/14
- “‘After I Read It, It Took Me Two Weeks To Fully Recover’: People Are Sharing Books That Have Genuinely Changed Their Lives,” BuzzFeed, book featured in roundup
- “Shelf Life: Brian Cox,” ELLE Magazine, listed in Brian Cox’s book recommendations
- “What Do You Say to the Sufferer?” The New York Times, mentioned in op-ed
- “When comfort reading won’t cut it: books to restore hope in humanity,” The Guardian, book quoted in piece
- “For Lily King, a Great Book Always Starts With the Sentences,” The New York Times, book mentioned in the “By The Book” column
- Man's Search for Meaning is on Powell's list of "25 Books to Read Before You Die."
- The Amazon editorial team called Man's Search for Meaning a "life-changing book" and included it in a list of 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime, 2/4/14
- HuffPost Religion excerpted one of the selected letters from Man's Search for Meaning, 10/28/14