Books Recommended by Jason Calacanis

John Brockman, my dear friend and agent (if I ever get around to writing a book), handed me one of the most important books of my life: “Authentic Happiness” by Marty Seligman. That book led me to the most important book of my life: “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl.
Frankl was a psychologist and Holocaust survivor.
He studied how people react to horrible circumstances that are beyond their control. He studied why some people give up and others carry on. While few of us can understand the level of suffering of people during the Holocaust, Nanking or the Killing Fields, Frankl put his theories forward so that we could carry them into our daily lives.
Logotherapy was what Frankl called his theories, and their major tenants are that we choose how to find meaning in our circumstances and that our experiences all have meaning.
My interpretation of Frankl is that you actually get to choose how you feel about your circumstances.