Which is an excellent book. In dire cirmustances - how and why can you go on. I really recommend it to everyone. In the book Victor Frankl - as a trained doctor and therapist - documents and - this should be interesting to HN crowd - analyzes his own experience as a nazi concentration camp survivor. The 'lit a cigarette' example in the article is probably borrowed from the book.

Does this book make one feel better or more depressed?

The article has not a very good vibe to it, tbh.

Does going to a therapist and discussing about things frankly as they are make one feel better or worse?

Viktor has a very objective tone of voice. He never paints himself as a saint, a martyr or a superman. This creates a certain feeling of detachment that shields from the full emotional impact of what he actually went through.

Overall, however, the book is about survival and the strength of human spirit. Especially since Mr. Frankl personally went through hell, retained his sanity and will to live, and wrote the book.

It's a book that gave me hope and strength in dark times.

I read this book a few weeks ago. It was such a surprise for what I expected. Make no mistake, it objectively talks about horrific events, but I felt humbled and appreciative of the life I have and how to deal with challenging times.

The book as I remember it made you feel hopeful.

It is a very persuasive argument about how one can deal with even the most 'hopeless' situation.

It is also a brilliant description of the psychological effects of camp life.

The way he described the odd dislocated feeling they got when the allies set them free was particularly memorable for me.

Things like Nazi gas chambers are interesting in a horrific sort of way, but this book did not concentrate on those types of things.

The book focused on things which I found to be subtly more disturbing, like the ability of an overweight Nazi guard to curse a death camp prisoner for being "swine, who doesn't know how to work!" while the prisoner is literally working themselves to death in front of the guard to just stands around being fat and worthless. Does the guard not see the irony? How is it possible that he does not? Do I myself hold any absurd views like that Nazi guard?

Ultimately the book showed me that there are decent and indecent people in any group, and made me want to be a decent person. I wouldn't say the book is depressing.

For me it felt a bit like a science book with fascinating insights. Yes, what happened in those places was awful but that wasn't the focal point of the book IMO. The focal point is an analyzed account of how people have a higher (or lower) chance of survival in such a dire setting.

Also his book are secretly 2 books for which this part is the first part. The second part is about Logotherapy, something he developed after WWII based on the insights he gained from people in concentration camps.

It's a rational analysis of some of the worst experiences a person can go through. It wasn't written to wrench your soul like Sophie's Choice and gives a great look at the human psyche pushed to its limits.

Okay. Is it written from the point of view of the (almost) dying person, or of the bystanders?

It's written by a person that did not give up, survived and analyzed the experience. I read it previously and I highly recommend it, don't worry you won't be depressed after that. On the contrary.

Anne Applebaum's book Gulag describes similar psychology and social dynamics. It's an epic work of scholorship that examines the surrounding society as well as the camps and the prisoners. A wide range of inmate experience shows through because of varying lethality of camps and some longer resulting timelines, in contrast for example to Kiernan and Cambodia where the end was often more prompt.