Synopsis
A memoir and psychological argument, drawn from Frankl's concentration-camp experience, that the will to find meaning sustains people through suffering.
Core passage idea
Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted workThose who held on to a why to live could endure almost any how, surviving conditions that crushed others.
It claims that meaning, not pleasure or power, is the deepest human drive and the key to bearing suffering.
To avoid a bubble
Pair with Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus.
Reading note
Read the memoir first, then the brief logotherapy section that distills its lesson.
Best paired with
Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus