Virtual Book Club
Read for fun with Calvin alum!
You remember the days on campus when you longed to spend your free time the way you wanted to—biking, relaxing with friends, catching up on your favorite movies, reading for fun...
Now is your chance! Get together with other Calvin alum (primarily online, but also in person if you want!) to read and discuss for pleasure.
Calvin has partnered with an outside book club company to offer this benefit to alum. In this online community, alumni can connect and enjoy books related to lifelong learning, social issues, literature, psychology, and other user-submitted ideas. There is no cost to participate—you just need to get a copy of the book to enjoy.
How it works
The book club will connect through a private online forum where people can discuss the current book and network with each other. The group will spend two months on each book, so you'll have plenty of time to read.
Currently Reading
We are currently reading Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect by John Inazu.
Enjoy this synopsis: Are you discouraged by our divided, angry culture, where even listening to a different perspective sometimes feels impossible? If so, you're not alone, and it doesn't have to be this way. Learning to Disagree reveals the surprising path to learning how to disagree in ways that build new bridges with our neighbors, coworkers, and loved ones--and help us find better ways to live joyfully in a complex society.
In a tense cultural climate, is it possible to disagree productively and respectfully without compromising our convictions? Spanning a range of challenging issues--including critical race theory, sexual assault, campus protests, and clashes over religious freedom--highly regarded thought leader and law professor John Inazu helps us engage honestly and empathetically with people whose viewpoints we find strange, wrong, or even dangerous. As a constitutional scholar, legal expert, and former litigator, John has spent his career learning how to disagree well with other people. In Learning to Disagree, John shares memorable stories and draws on the practices that legal training imparts--seeing the complexity in every issue and inhabiting the mindset of an opposing point of view--to help us handle daily encounters and lifelong relationships with those who see life very differently than we do.
This groundbreaking, poignant, and highly practical book equips us If you are feeling exhausted from the tattered state of dialogue in your social media feed, around the country, and in daily conversations, you're not alone. Discover a more connected life while still maintaining the strength of your convictions through this unique, often-humorous, thought-provoking, and ultimately life-changing exploration of the best way to disagree.