Congratulations! You've unlocked a 50% discount.

Thanks for visiting sumizeit.com. As a new user, you can use coupon code WELCOME for a 50% discount off a premium subscription.

TIME TO CLAIM

Star

New Feature! Download infographics with key insights from bestselling non-fiction books.

Download Now

Man's Search For Meaning Book Summary

Book Summary

By Viktor Frankl




15 min
Audio available

Brief Summary

Viktor Frankl’s story of tragedy and horror in Nazi concentration camps is the backdrop for an exploration of logotherapy, or the idea that man is motivated by the search for meaning. In his exploration of his life and his therapeutic principles, Frankl explains the ways meaning can be found in life, the crises that can occur from a lack of meaning, and the value of tragic optimism. He insists that our attitude can alter the way we view the world, no matter our circumstances. 

About the Author

Viktor Frankl was a Jewish psychologist from Vienna. He survived four concentration camps and went on to publish more than thirty books on clinical psychology and psychotherapy. He is the founder of logotherapy.

Topics

Man's Search For Meaning Book Summary Preview

Key Insights 

Man’s Search for Meaning is the story of Viennese psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s experience finding the meaning of life while imprisoned in a series of Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Frankl discusses his own experience and the experience of other prisoners to create a psychoanalytic model called “logotherapy,” which centers on finding meaning and purpose in life. The main idea of Frankl’s manifesto is that humans can survive nearly anything, and are able to find meaning and purpose in even the most atrocious and disturbing conditions. He is certain that our primary focus in life is finding meaning, and that your attitude about life shapes your experience of it. He also makes the claim that we are obligated to take on the tasks that life sets before us, even if they seem impossible or are rooted in suffering. 

Frankl established himself as an eminent psychoanalyst at a young age but chose not to escape the concentration camps because of his family. 

Viktor Frankl grew up in Vienna at the beginning of the twentieth century. He was interested in psychology at a young age. He wrote to Sigmund Freud when he was only sixteen to share some of his ideas about psychology and the mind. Freud was interested in Frankl’s thoughts and had one of the boy’s papers published. This helped establish Frankl as a preeminent thinker in his field - by age thirty-nine, he was the head of neurology at Vienna’s Jewish hospital. Frankl began to fear for his life when the Nazis closed his hospital in 1939. 

The US consulate knew about Frankl’s work and offered him a rare opportunity. He was sent a visa in 1942, long after most people were given a chance to escape the Germans. Frankl was working on a manuscript at the time and wanted to finish his book in America. But after a discussion with his father damaged Jewish synagogue, Frankl realized he could never abandon his family. He let his visa application lapse and was deported alongside his pregnant wife and parents in September 1942. 

From September 1942 until 1945, Frankl was moved between four different camps: Theresienstadt, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Kaufering and Dachau. 

In the camps, Frankl witnessed three stages of reaction for both prisoners and guards: denial, apathy, and acceptance. 

Frankl’s stages of response to life in concentration camps are in some ways similar to the stages of grief, though he leaves out anger, bargaining, and depression. There is also a fourth stage, which comes after being released from the camps, in which prisoners slowly reacclimate to “normal” life. Frankl explains his reasoning for the three stages based on his own experience in the camps. 

The process begins with denial. Prisoners don’t want to believe the conditions in the camps are as bad as they suspect. Frankl writes about being greeted by the healthiest prisoners, which only increased the denial - it’s easy to believe it won’t be that bad if these senior prisoners can make jokes. 

After experiencing the horrors of the camps, most prisoners begin to...

Please login to access the full text and audio summary for FREE

Users get access to two FREE summaries. Become a pro user for unlimited access.

Login
Congrats! You've unlocked a 50% discount. Use coupon code WELCOME for 50% off Sumizeit Premium.

Save time with unlimited access to text, audio, and video summaries of the world's best-selling books.
Become a pro user

book summary - Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Man's Search For Meaning

Book Summary

15 min
Read now Download PDF Take a Quiz

More Like This


Steve Jobs
Walter Isaacson

Fear
Bob Woodward

Uncanny Valley
Anna Wiener

Lean In
Sheryl Sandberg

Learn Something New Every Day with Sumizeit

Here’s Why Sumizeit Is Worth It

Try Sumizeit to get the key ideas from thousands of bestselling nonfiction titles. Listen, read, or watch in just 15 minutes.

High-Quality Titles

Highest quality content

Our book summaries are crafted to be unbiased, concise, and comprehensive, giving you the most valuable insights in the shortest amount of time.

New book summaries added constantly

New content added constantly

We add new content each week, including New York Times bestsellers.

Learn on the go while commuting, exercising, etc

Learn on the go

Learn anytime, anywhere - read, listen or watch summaries on IOS, tablet, laptop, and Kindle!

You can cancel your subscription anytime

Cancel anytime

Changed your mind? No problem. Cancel your subscription anytime.

Collect awards while learning

Collect Achievements

Learning just got more rewarding - track your progress and earn prizes using our mobile app.

Sumizeit provides other features as well

And much more!

Improve your retention with quizzes. Enjoy PDF summaries, infographics, offline access with our app and more.

Our users love Sumizeit

Join thousands of readers who learn faster than they ever thought possible.

4.6 out of 5

400 ratings on
Apple Store

Quality
As featured in
  • icon
  • icon
  • icon
  • icon

People ❤️ SumizeIt

Olga Z.

I love this app! As a busy executive, I don't have time to read entire books, but I still want to stay informed. This app provides me with concise summaries of the latest bestsellers, so I can stay up-to-date on the latest trends and ideas without sacrificing my precious time.

Chen L.

Very good development in last months. Content updates on a regular basis and UI is getting better and better.

Erica A.

Great product. Have used them for a long time. One of my favorite things about them is that they are able to summarize a whole book into just 10 minutes.

William H.

This app has been a lifesaver for my studies. Instead of struggling to finish textbooks, I can quickly get the key points from each chapter. It's helped me improve my grades and understand the material much better.