Our deepest drive is the will to meaning, not pleasure or power. A psychiatrist who survived the camps, Frankl shows how purpose can persist when everything else is stripped away.

Part memoir, part primer on logotherapy, the book argues for a stubborn freedom. We can’t choose events, but we can choose our stance. Meaning emerges through work that serves, love that binds, and the courage to face unavoidable suffering. Against the modern “existential vacuum”—boredom, drift, conformity—Frankl offers tools: clarify values, accept responsibility, and practise “tragic optimism”.

In chaotic times, this concise classic equips you to resist nihilism and act with purpose.