Our library in Hewett Centre is open every Sunday after service during Coffee Hour in Hewett Centre, and our Library Team offers related reading lists based on the topic of the Sunday service. Here is their list for the upcoming service featuring the IPA Team on Sunday, November 30, 2025 at 11 a.m. All are welcome in Hewett Centre after the Sunday service to check out some books, and to have coffee and conversation.
VanU library books related to this Sunday’s sermon:
1. Freedom Moves West: A History of the Western Unitarian Conference, 1852-1952, by Charles H. Lyttle, 2006, 288 LYT [From GoodReads: “… tells the story of the growth and development of a distinctive Western variety of American Unitarianism. As religiously liberal pioneers moved from the long-established East to the newly settled territories of the West, they embraced ever more challenging theological positions, constantly expanding the definition of what it means to be Unitarian.”].
2. You Can’t be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times, by Howard Zinn, 1994, 973.07 ZIN [Gift of Evelyn M. Riley. Published by Beacon Press. From LibraryThing: “… tells his personal stories about more than thirty years of fighting for social change, from teaching at Spelman College to recent protests against war. A former bombardier in World War II, Zinn emerged in the civil rights movement as a powerful voice for justice. Although he’s a fierce critic, he gives us reason to hope that by learning from history and engaging politically, we can make a difference in the world.”].
3. Slow Dance: A Story of Stroke, Love and Disability, by Bonnie Klein, 1997, 362.1 KLE [Gift of Gayle Morton. From LibraryThing: “The author talks about her struggles and inspirations as she deals with her disability after a stroke.”].
4. On the Move: A Life, by Oliver Sacks, 2015, 921 SAC [From LibraryThing: “… When Oliver Sacks was twelve years old, a perceptive schoolmaster wrote in his report: “Sacks will go far, if he does not go too far.” It is now abundantly clear that Sacks has never stopped going. From its opening pages on his youthful obsession with motorcycles and speed, On the Move is infused with his restless energy. As he recounts his experiences as a young neurologist in the early 1960s, first in California, where he struggled with drug addiction, and then in New York, where he discovered a long-forgotten illness in the back wards of a chronic hospital, we see how his engagement with patients comes to define his life. With unbridled honesty and humor, Sacks shows us that the same energy that drives his physical passions – weight lifting and swimming – also drives his cerebral passions. …”].
5. Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue, by Sam Harris, 2015, 297 HAR [From LibraryThing: “… invite you to join an urgently needed conversation: Is Islam a religion of peace or war? Is it amenable to reform? Why do so many Muslims seem drawn to extremism? What do words like Islamism, jihadism, and fundamentalism mean in today’s world? Remarkable for the breadth and depth of its analysis, this dialogue between a famous atheist and a former radical is all the more startling for its decorum. Harris and Nawaz have produced something genuinely new: they engage one of the most polarizing issues of our time — fearlessly and fully — and actually make progress. … published with the explicit goal of inspiring a wider public discussion by way of example. In a world riven by misunderstanding and violence, Harris and Nawaz demonstrate how two people with very different views can find common ground.”].
6. The Inner Reaches of Outer Space, by Joseph Campbell, 1988, 291.13 CAM [The Julian Fears Library. From LibraryThing: “… posits that the newly discovered laws of outer space are actually at work within human beings as well and that a new mythology is implicit in this realization. He examines the new mythology and other questions in these essays which he described as “a broadly shared spiritual adventure.””].
7. Call to Selma: Eighteen Days of Witness, by Richard D. Leonard, 2002, 323.1 LEO [Published by Skinner House Books publication. From Amazon: “In 1965 Rev. Martin Luther King appealed to clergy across the nation to come to Selma, Alabama, and join protestors in their struggle for voting rights. In all, more than 200 Unitarian Universalists responded, including about one-fifth of all Unitarian Universalist ministers. Reverend Richard Leonard, age 37, was Minister of education at the Community Church of New York at the time he answered Dr. King’s call. Leonard’s journal, along with the recollections of others who shared the journey, presents Selma as a pivotal point in the advancement of civil rights, and a defining moment for Unitarian Universalism. …”].
8. Our Unitarian Heritage: An Introduction to the History of the Unitarian Movement, by Earl Morse Wilbur, 1925, 288 WIL.
9. You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes: Photographs from the International Space Station, by Chris Hadfield, 2014, 778 HAD [Gift of Jean Desmond. From LibraryThing: “Photographs from the International Space Station punctuated with fun, fascinating commentary on life in zero gravity.”].
10. The Baha’I Faith: The Emerging Global Religion, by William S. Hatcher, 1997, 297.8 HAT [The Julian Fears Library. From the book’s jacket, on LibraryThing: “Explore the history, teachings, structure, and community life of the worldwide Baha’i community — what may well be the most diverse organized body of people on earth — through this revised and updated comprehensive introduction The Baha’i Faith covers the most recent developments in a faith that, in just over 150 years, has grown to become the second most widespread of the independent world religions.”].
11. Let the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run: A Call to Those Who Would Save the Earth, by David Brower, 2000, 574.09 BRO [From LibraryThing: “As a climber, David Brower scaled many previously “insurmountable” mountains. As a conservationist, Brower has brought a mountaineer’s determination and reverence for nature to his efforts to protect the Earth and educate its human inhabitants. He has kept dams out of the Grand Canyon and loggers out of Olympic National Park, established the National Wilderness Preservation System, added seven new regions to the National Park System, and helped to foster a mind-set that questions careless growth. … offers a tough, witty, and impassioned game plan “for those who would save the Earth.” … Brower issues visionary yet practical CPR – Conservation, Preservation, Restoration – for the future. With these wittily formulated “operating instructions” for our planet, he imagines an International Green Cross and an Earth Corps, and he describes healthy cities with boundaries and wildlife havens; the importance of wildness, redwoods, rain forests, and wood substitutes; “green” businesses and the “Misfortune 500.” While offering strong criticism for those who would harm the Earth, he advises environmental organizations on how they might more effectively work to restore both the natural world and the hope of its peoples.”].
12. A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes, by Stephen W. Hawking, 1988, 523.1 HAW [From LibraryThing: “… explores such profound questions as: How did the universe begin, and what made its start possible? Does time always flow forward? Is the universe unending, or are there boundaries? Are there other dimensions in space? What will happen when it all ends? … plunges into the exotic realms of black holes and quarks, of antimatter and arrows of time, of the big bang and a bigger God – where the possibilities are wondrous and unexpected. …”].