Man's Search For Meaning

In 1946 Victor Frank wrote Man's Search For Meaning. The first half of the book is about his experiences in the five concentration camps that he lived in during World War Two. The second half of the book is about his psychiatric method that he calls logotherapy. Some people think his book is the most influential book in the United States. I listened to an audio version of the book. The author describes the three reactions to being sent to a concentration camp. First comes the shock of being admitted to such a horrible place. After the shock comes the apathy after being accustomed to camp existence where you only care about the things that will keep you and your friends alive. The third reaction is bitterness and disillusionment if you survived and lived. The author also thinks there are two kinds of people, the swine or the saint, the evil or the good. In the second half of the book he starts talking about his patients. One man came to him who was a physician. The physician was so depressed after he lost his wife that he wanted to die too. The author asked him, "What if you died first?" The physician stated he wouldn't want that because his wife would have been so sad. The author explained that he had actually done his wife a favor by living longer and preventing her from feeling the grief that he now feels. Somehow that clicked in the physician's head and his grief lessened. I enjoyed the book even though some parts were sad. Some parts were funny. Later in the book the author explained that one woman thought it was terrible that he wrote in the German language because that is the language of the Nazi's. So he asked her if she had any knives in her kitchen. When she said yes he asked her why she would keep knives in her kitchen knowing knives have been used to stab people and kill them. I thought that was a pretty funny response.