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Man's Search for Meaning

Author: Viktor E. Frankl Foreword by: Harold S. Kushner Afterword by: William J. Winslade

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

This seminal book, which has been called “one of the outstanding contributions to psychological thought” by Carl Rogers and “one of the great books of our time” by Harold Kushner, has been translated into more than 50 languages and sold over 16 million copies. “An enduring work of survival literature,” according to the New York Times, Viktor Frankl’s riveting account of his time in the Nazi concentration camps, and his insightful exploration of the human will to find meaning in spite of the worst adversity, has offered solace and guidance to generations of readers since it was first published in 1946. At the heart of Frankl’s theory of logotherapy (from the Greek word for “meaning”) is a conviction that the primary human drive is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but rather the discovery and pursuit of what the individual finds meaningful. Today, as new generations face new challenges and an ever more complex and uncertain world, Frankl’s classic work continues to inspire us all to find significance in the very act of living, in spite of all obstacles.

A must-read companion to this classic work, a new, never-before-published work by Frankl entitled Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything, is now available in English.

“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)

Reviews

Review: O, the Oprah magazine - November 1, 2008

"[O]ne of the most significant books of the 20th century.”

“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