Book Club
This group, which meets here once a month, on the last Saturday of the month at 10 AM, is graciously sponsored by the University Unitarian Universalist Society. EVERYONE is invited! We choose a book, or maybe more than one book on the same topic, a few months in advance. Participants may buy the book, get it from the library, or simply be interested in the topic. Many of the month's selection(s) will have information on this site with reviews, reader comments, and perhaps links to more information. (Send your suggestions for books and/or topics to feature in the months ahead to the Book Club c/o Steve Hall.)
Saturday October 29th, 10am
The Evolution of God
by Robert Wright
Straddling popular science, ancient history, and theology, this ambitious work sets out to resolve not only the clash of civilizations between the Judeo-Christian West and the Muslim world but also the clash between science and religion. Tracking the continual transformation of faith from the Stone Age to the Information Age, Wright, a self-described materialist, best known for his work on evolutionary psychology, free trade, and game theory, postulates that religious world views are becoming more open, compassionate, and synthesized. Occasionally, his prescriptions can seem obvious—for instance, that members of the different Abrahamic faiths should think of their religions as “having been involved, all along, in the same undertaking.” But his core argument, that religion is getting “better” with each passing aeon, is enthralling.
Saturday December 3rd, 10am
Mightier than the Sword
Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Battle for America
by David S. Reynolds
June 14 is the 200th birthday of Harriet Beecher Stowe. When President Lincoln first met the author, he reportedly said-- Is this the little woman who made this great war? Nobody knows for sure. But, her novel, "Uncle Tom’s Cabin," helped galvanize anti-slavery sentiment in the lead-up to the Civil War. The book’s engaging and emotional story made its antislavery message accessible to nineteenth century readers. In his new book, "Mightier Than the Sword," author David S. Reynolds examines the life of Harriet Beecher Stowe, and he looks at how the novel changed American society and sparked social change around the world.
Saturday January 28th, 10am
Randi's Prize
What Sceptics Say About the Paranormal, Why They Are Wrong, and Why It Matters
by Robert McLuhan
James 'The Amazing' Randi is a stage magician who says he has a million dollars for anyone who can convince him they have psychic powers. No one has even come close to winning, proof, say sceptical scientists, that there is no such thing as 'the paranormal'. But are they right? In this illuminating and often provocative analysis, Robert McLuhan examines the influence of Randi and other debunking sceptics in shaping scientific opinion about such things as telepathy, psychics, ghosts and near-death experiences. He points out that scientific researchers who investigate these things at first hand overwhelmingly consider them to be genuinely anomalous. But this has shocking implications, for science, for society and for even perhaps for ourselves as individuals. Hence the sceptics' insistence that they should rather be attributed to fraud, imagination and wishful thinking. However, this extraordinary and little understood aspect of consciousness has much to tell us about the human situation, McLuhan suggests. And at a time when militants are polarising the debate about religion, its mystical, spiritual element offers an optimistic and enlightened way forward. Randi's Prize is aimed at anyone interested in spirituality or those curious to know the truth about paranormal claims. It's an intelligent and readable analysis of scientific research into the paranormal which, uniquely, also closely examines the arguments of well-known sceptics.
Possibilities
Check out these reviews of books being considered for future discussions.
CR-Death_and_life-American_schools.pdfCR-Politics_of_Happiness.pdf
CR-Power_Hungry-green_myths.pdf
CR-The_backlash.pdf
