Man’s Search for Meaning
By Viktor Frankl
Why this book?
Published in 1946, this book asks us to think about the meaning of life from the point of view of the victims of the concentration camps—where Frankl himself struggled for life. It is a grim backdrop, but out of it Frankl distills a challenge to all of us. Quoting Nietzsche’s words, “He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how,” he suggests that we ask, not what we expect from life, but what life expects from us. Reading Frankl helped me switch from “what is the meaning of it all?” (midlife crisis question!) to “now I will consciously and purposefully make my life meaningful.”
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