"Recollections: An Autobiography" by Viktor Frankl

This is more a collection of notes and snapshots of Frankl's life than a formal, biographical work, but nevertheless gives an insight into the life and inner workings of one of the greatest psychiatrists and thinkers of the XX century. Frankl wrote these snippets when he was in his mid 90s, and just a few years from his death.

The book starts with his retelling of his childhood, his patrician mother, and his bureaucrat father, who was a secretary to a minister in the Austrian government until he was deported to Auschwitz together with the rest of the family. Frankl describes his childhood and his growing interest in human problems, his choice to become a medical doctor and a psychiatrist. He already forms the basics of his 'logotherapy' in the mid 1930s, and applies the principles to a psychiatric ward for suicidal women, as well as to students in Vienna during the infamous 'matura' exams. Thanks to him and his teachings, no students suicides happened while his counseling program was in place, and the suicide rate in the women's psychiatric ward dropped to virtual zero.

Frankl describes his relationship with the other giants of psychology: Freud who encouraged young Frankl to publish articles on psychotherapy, but from whom Frankl later splits, and Adler, by whom Frankl was considered as one of the brightest, but with whom Frankl also splits, just like Adler split with Freud years earlier. About this time is the 'Auschluss' of Austria by Nazi Germany, and Frankl is forced to apply the principles of his own teachings to himself. He passes on a chance to escape Austria, because he wants to stay with his family, and later his father dies literally in his hands in a concentration camp, where eventually all of his family, including his young wife lose their lives.

After the war, and the publication of his book 'Men's search for meaning' , Frankl becomes a kind of celebrity in the psychotherapist circles in Vienna, and develops his logotherapy further. He meets his second wife, who becomes his main editor and helper with all of his writings until the end of his life. We also learn about Frankl's passion for mountain climbing, which he continued all the way through his mid-70s, when what he couldn't do with natural strength, he complemented with superior skill. He incorporates this in his logotherapy teachings, as yet another way of giving life an individualized meaning and getting pleasure and satisfaction from it.

Although the lack of structure is obvious, this is a warm and enlightening book about one of the greatest minds, and souls, of the XX century, who literally lived what he preached throughout his life.