Man's Search for Meaning

The Book in 1 Sentence

Suffering with meaning is no longer suffering

Brief Review

Victor is a holocaust survivor and phycologist before the war that was tells a compelling story of first-hand experience of his time in both Dachau and Auschwitz as well as the therapy techniques that he created called logotherapy. His stories are concise, cohesive, and emotional all leading to how suffering can lead to a better life.

Why I Read this book

It was mentioned in Tough by Terry Crews and I had never heard of it so when I saw it was less than 300 pages (About 4 hours on Audible), I knew I could knock it out and I for sure am glad that I did.

In-Depth Review (Favorite Quotes)

Viktor is a masterful storyteller of personal experience and the important details that are needed to tell his stories of luck, fate, and sacrifice that gave him the ability to survive. He doesn't spend exorbitant amount presenting tons of detail. He just provides the information relevant to the experience he had.

I find it really interesting with Tough, Ego Is the Enemy, and a couple others that are escaping my mind right now, but I have listened to them back to back and this idea of suffering with purpose is what brings meaning to life as well as helps you see that the suffering is not the end is a reoccurring theme that I haven't heard before; It just happens to be presented over and over, and it is a great reminder to find purpose in your life.

The second half of the book is about logotherapy, and honestly it was a really interesting presentation of ideas. I have similar views on the idea of how to handle adversity and agree that sacrifice is something we should all practice. I'm not saying the level of communism, but more than the world we see post COVID.

How my life / behavior / thoughts / ideas have changed as a result of reading the book.

It is mentioned multiple times that suffering is inevitable and looking back at my life, I couldn't agree more. What will change for my life going forward is to look at the suffering and hardship with a sense of purpose that I still need to find.

Rating

I liked this book, it was great to follow up to "Ego is the Enemy" and I would recommend reading them back to help re-enforce these ideas. However, this book by itself does present some solid groundwork for a life that you can be proud of when looking back. It is an 8, mainly because it is short, but that is also a good thing.

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