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 Rev. Shawn Gauthier and Kiersten Moore on Sunday, October 5, 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. The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World, by Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Carlton Abrams, 2016, 294 LAM [From LibraryThing: “… The occasion was a big birthday. And it inspired two close friends to get together in Dharamsala for a talk about something very important to them. The friends were His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The subject was joy. Both winners of the Nobel Prize, both great spiritual masters and moral leaders of our time, they are also known for being among the most infectiously happy people on the planet.
From the beginning the book was envisioned as a three-layer birthday cake: their own stories and teachings about joy, the most recent findings in the science of deep happiness, and the daily practices that anchor their own emotional and spiritual lives. Both the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu have been tested by great personal and national adversity, and here they share their personal stories of struggle and renewal. Now that they are both in their eighties, they especially want to spread the core message that to have joy yourself, you must bring joy to others.
Most of all, during that landmark week in Dharamsala, they demonstrated by their own exuberance, compassion, and humor how joy can be transformed from a fleeting emotion into an enduring way of life”].
2. The Archipelago of Hope: Wisdom and Resilience from the Edge of Climate Change, by Gleb Raygorodetsky, 2018, 304 RAY [From LibraryThing, on the book jacket: “… while our politicians argue, the truth is that climate change is already here. Nobody knows this better than Indigenous peoples who, having developed an intimate relationship with ecosystems over generations, have observed these changes for decades. For them, climate change is not an abstract concept or policy issue, but the reality of daily life. … shows how these communities are actually islands of biological and cultural diversity in the ever-rising sea of development and urbanization. They are an “archipelago of hope” as we enter the Anthropocene, for here lies humankind’s best chance to understand how to take care of the Earth. These communities are implementing creative solutions to meet these modern challenges. Solutions that are relevant to the rest of us. …”].
3. Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying, by Ram Dass, 2001, 305.26 [From LibraryThing: “… In 1997, Ram Dass suffered a nearly incapacitating stroke that affected his speech and movement. The next two years he devoted to his healing and recovery. Drawing on this experience Ram Dass once again has produced a thought-provoking book that speaks to the soul. It is an appealing selection for those seeking insights and reassurance about the mature seasons of our lives.”].
4. Trusting Change: Finding Our Way Through Personal and Global Transformation, by Karen Hering, 2022, 248 HER [From LibraryThing: “… offers pastoral support and spiritual skills building for individuals on the cusp of personal change within the collective context of a world that is reshaping itself at a faster pace than ever. The book’s ten thresholding skills give readers practical tools for living on the threshold and through change, but this is not a typical “how-to” guide and its beautifully written and evocative language will connect readers with their own deeper consciousness. … Hering does not pretend that change is easy but notes its inevitability and some of the ways readers can participate in it, allowing them to trust it more in the future. Sharing wisdom found in nature and in metaphors, the reflections include evocative questions and creative, often embodied exercises that invite the reader into a larger story of change. …”].
5. Time to Change: Essays, by David Suzuki, 1995, 333.7 SUZ [From LibraryThing: “… a time when we must change. The signs are everywhere; … first calls our attention to the signs and then considers the realms of science, politics and economics to find the source of our problems and also the ground on which we can – and cannot – place our hope for the future”].
6. The Big Disconnect: The Story of Technology and Loneliness, by Giles Slade, 2012, 303.48 SLA [Written by a VanU member. From LibraryThing: “… the author offers a bracing look at an America where intimacy with machines is increasingly replacing mutual human intimacy. In a sweeping overview that ranges from the late nineteenth century to the present, he reveals how consumer technologies changed from analgesic devices that ameliorated the loneliness of a newly urban generation in the Gilded Age to prosthetic machines that act as substitutes for companionship in contemporary America. Mining insights from neuroscience, the author delves deeply into the history of this transformation, showing why Americans use certain technologies to mediate their connections with other human beings instead of seeking out face-to-face contacts. In a final investigative section, he describes ways in which some people are bucking the trend by consciously including interpersonal strategies that build empathy, community, and mutual acceptance. …”].
7. Beyond Civilization: Humanity’s Next Great Adventure, by Daniel Quinn, 2000, 901 QUI [Gift of Shelagh Lindsey. From LibraryThing: “… We all know there’s no one right way to build a bicycle, no one right way to design an automobile, no one right way to make a pair of shoes, but we’re convinced that there must be only one right way to live — and the one we have is it, no matter what. … Examining ancient civilizations such as the Maya and the Olmec, as well as modern-day microcosms of alternative living like circus societies, Quinn guides us on a quest for a new model for society, one that is forward-thinking and encourages diversity instead of suppressing it. …”].
8. Gentle Roads to Survival: Making Self-Healing Choices in Difficult Circumstances, by Andre Auw, 1991, 158.1 AUW [From LibraryThing: “… suggestions on handling the challenges of life by using anecdotes and experiences from his years as a therapist.”].
9. Social Action Heroes: Unitarian Universalists Who Are Changing the World, by Michelle Bates Deakin, 2012, 261 DEA [Published by Skinner House Books. From Amazon: “Unitarian Universalists are committed to acting on important issues of social justice throughout the world. Award-winning journalist Michelle Bates Deakin explores the actions of eleven individuals and the impact their actions have had on their communities and their souls. Compelling and inspiring, Social Action Heroes illuminates the potential for deep change inherent in each of us, and in Unitarian Universalism as a whole.”].
10. From Naked Ape to Super Species: A Personal Perspective on Humanity and the Global Ecocrisis, by David Suzuki and Holly Dressel, 1999, 304.2 SUZ [From LibraryThing: “… describe how we have evolved beyond our needs, trampling other species, believing that we can make the Earth work the way we want it to. And they introduce us to the people who are fighting back, those who are resisting the inexorable advance of the “global economy” juggernaut, the people whose voices are difficult to hear over the din of corporate public relations machines. …”].
11. American Exodus: Climate Change and the Coming Flight for Survival, by Giles Slade, 2013, 304.8 SLA [Written by a UCV member. From Amazon: “… Giles Slade argues that we are entering a long period of global desperation which will be characterized by human migration on an unprecedented scale. American Exodus is a frighteningly believable survey of our immediate future, but it ends on a note of hope: we may yet survive the coming century of climatic change if we act now to safeguard our shelter of last resort. …”].
12. The Welcoming Congregation, edited by the Rev. Scott W. Alexander, 1990, 289.1 ALE [Unitarian Universalist Association. From LibraryThing: “This manual, prepared by the UUA’s Office of Lesbian and Gay Concerns, is designed to help interested congregations become more welcoming places for the gay, lesbian, and bisexual people in their midst and in the wider community”].
13. The Free Church in a Changing World, by Dana McLean Greeley, 1963, 288 UUA [From GoodReads: “Reports of six commissions appointed in 1959 by Dana McLean Greeley (while president of American Unitarian Association) to survey, evaluate, and recommend possible future directions of UU congregations”].
14. Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, by Stephen R. Covey, 1990, 158 COV [From LibraryThing: “… presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. With insights and anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, service, and human dignity — principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.”].