Member-only story
The One Book to Read in 2021
I read a lot of self help books in the past year. 14 to be precise. 2020 being a year of changes as we know it, reading helped me to feel that somethings are still the same. Did those books change me for better? I don’t know. May be I am of the unchangable type. I read only for the sake of reading. Not to make myself better, only to feel something. May be only to spend time.
Of all these self-help books, if at all I recommend anthing that would be — Man’s search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. Viktor E Frankl was a doctor when he was captured and send to Auschwitz. He survived it for 3 years. The first part of the book comprises of his camp experiences. It not only describes a day but also how he thinks he coped where numerous others failed. By no means, is he extalling himself as great. But he is stating it as proof that if one man survived, it should be proof enough that Hope is a thing. Man lives to find a meaning for his life. That meaning could come from (1) work (2) by loving someone or something (3) suffering.
This book instilled a complete contradiction from Yuval Noah Harrari’s book, which gives a feeling that Man is trivial. Everything is chance occurance. One man’s will doesn’t matter, we are seen as a collective tribe. Anything of significance needs masses.But the mass has to start with one man, one outlier. I am a firm believer of each man’s capability to…
