A short book packed with wisdom from a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps. The first half is about the psychological lessons he took from his experiences, and the second is a more academic approach to applying those lessons to psychiatry. Four lessons I took from the book were:
- Meaning, however you define that, and we all define it uniquely, is necessary to live.
- If you have a meaning, you may survive even the death camps; or rather, without meaning, you certainly won’t.
- What is meaning? For some it is sacrifice, for others it is devotion to creating something, but it’s all about love.
- Asking what is the meaning of life is like asking a chess grandmaster what is the best chess move in the world? The asnswer is there is not one single answer, but what the game demands. Likewise for life: better to reverse the question — what does life ask of me?
No. 6 of 50 books I intend to read and review in 2024.
I’m Patrick Sherriff, an Englishman who survived 13 years working for newspapers in the US, UK and Japan. Between teaching English lessons at my conversation school in Abiko, Japan, I write and illustrate textbooks for non-native speakers of English, release Hana Walker mystery novels, short stories, paint, and write essays and Our Man in Abiko, a monthly newsletter highlighting good writing in English, often about about Japan, art, crime fiction and teaching.
Patrick Sherriff 