This book is a classic and I was excited to finally get my hands on it. Part 1 feels like reading Night, By: Elie Wiesel, told from the point of view of a psychiatrist. In Part 2 Frankl lays out his psychological philosophy. Essentially: Meaning can be found in suffering. Grab this book if you are interested in history, war, facing adversity, or the human condition.
Two of my favorite quotes:
We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
As I once put it: “As a professor in two fields, neurology and psychiatry, I am fully aware of the extent to which man is subject to biological, psychological and sociological conditions. But in addition to being a professor in two fields I am a survivor of four camps —concentration camps, that is—and as such I also bear witness to the unexpected extent to which man is capable of defying and braving even the worst conditions conceivable.
