As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices.

Professor and botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer knows that the answer to all forms of ecological unbalance have long been hidden in plain sight, told in the language of plants and animals, minerals and elements. She draws on her own heritage . . . pairing science with Indigenous principles and storytelling to advocate for a renewed connection between human beings and nature. With that said, I must admit that I'm walking a fine line in voicing this criticism. Because I do agree with her general point in this book: that our society has strayed far, far away from the relationship we should have with the natural world. Food comes from a grocery store, not the earth. Recreation is obtained using electronics (destructive mining), cars (more destructing mining, carbon emissions, roadkill, war, land misuse), airplanes (ibid), books (deforestation, chemical runoff) etc. We do a bad job appreciating exactly where we are, without toys and external entertainment. Changing this attitude should make it easier to be an anticonsumer, and thus stop living in a way that demands so much from the earth while returning so little. Speaking for myself—not for my students, who were quite eloquent in their numerous criticisms of this book and can speak for themselves—I found the first two parts of this five-part book to be insufferable. Aside from the romanticized language that Kimmerer employs to describe every aspect of her life experiences, plant knowledge, and Indigenous culture, she constantly refers to herself as a good mother. In fact, once she identifies as Potawatomi, she practically calls herself Skywoman, in what I can only call an auto-hagiography. Kimmerer’s connection to Skywoman, by the way, is through the Haudenosaunee, most importantly the Onondaga, in whose ancestral lands she lives and works in Upstate New York. I once knew and loved a man who lived most of his life in the city, but when he was dragged off to the ocean or the woods he seemed to enjoy it well enough--as long as he could find an internet connection. He had lived in a lot of places, so I asked him where he found his greatest sense of place. He didn't understand the expression. I explained that I wanted to know where he felt the most nurtured and supported. What is the place you understand best? That you know best and knows you in return? Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of a book all about reestablishing our connection with nature, clearly accomplishes only one of these, as far as I can tell (independent research suggests she is vegan). This is not a problem unique to Kimmerer as an environmentalist--we are all hypocrites, in the paradigm of climate change. But I found myself particularly bothered in this case, because there is an attitude pervading this book that the degradation of nature is their fault. Whose fault? The West's. But not Kimmerer's. She may not say it explicitly, but the attitude of the book is that she is a messenger of ancient Truth to the hyper-technologized masses about how to live in harmony with the earth.

With deep compassion and graceful prose, Robin Wall Kimmerer encourages readers to consider the ways that our lives and language weave through the natural world. A mesmerizing storyteller, she shares legends from her Potawatomi ancestors to illustrate the culture of gratitude in which we all should live.” — Publishers Weekly Reading this book was like looking at the world afresh. Radical, hopeful, honest and wise, Robin Wall Kimmerer has woven us a precious heartsong for difficult times The author explains what the tool of science is useful for and what it is not (i.e. knowing does not build a culture of caring, an " indigenous worldview"), and further contrasts the "practice of science" from the "science worldview" (i.e. in the context of reductionist/materialist control, "the illusion of dominance and control, the separation of knowledge from responsibility").

What if you were a teacher but had no voice to speak your knowledge? What if you had no language at all and yet there was something you needed to say? Wouldn't you dance it? Wouldn't you act it out? Wouldn't your every movement tell the story? In time you would be so eloquent that just to gaze upon you would reveal it all. And so it is with these silent green lives."- Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass Anyone who enjoys being outdoors and thinks we can do more to respect the natural world would enjoy this book. Those who value the indigenous teachings of gratitude to the earth for all it p So ‘sweetly’ teaching us about the communication of plants and how much more they know than people… Robin Wall Kimmerer had wanted to be a poet before she began her college major in botany. Her skill with words is very evident in her lyrical writing. The descriptions of Native American myths and traditions as well as the beauty of nature are beautiful. But all of these so-called coincidences only matter to illustrate that sometimes the universe shouts by mentioning something over and over, and I’m glad I listened and finally got around to reading this amazing book.Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto and Social Reproduction Theory: Remapping Class, Recentring Oppression Also included in the book is the sad history of the Natives in North America, the death of language, the near-extermination of their culture and what it means to the world as a whole: I give daily thanks for Robin Wall Kimmerer for being a font of endless knowledge, both mental and spiritual. Through her own trials and errors, we begin to see what it means for humans to receive the gifts of the land, establish gratitude, and build relationships of reciprocity with nonhumans and the land. Beautiful examples of symbiosis between plants, animals, and humans are revealed through the author's poetic dance between indigenous stories and ecological science. Braiding Sweetgrass" is a timely and essential read for anyone concerned about the future of our planet. It serves as a whisper from our past, reminding us that we hold the power and responsibility to heal and restore our environment. Through its powerful storytelling and thought-provoking insights, this book has the potential to ignite a generation of passionate environmental stewards who will work tirelessly to protect and preserve our Earth Mother.

Wisdom about the natural world delivered by an able writer who is both Indigenous and an academic scientist. With deep compassion and graceful prose, Robin Wall Kimmerer encourages readers to consid­er the ways that our lives and language weave through the natural world. A mesmerizing story­teller, she shares legends from her Potawatomi ancestors to illustrate the culture of gratitude in which we all should live Publishers Weekly I give daily thanks for Robin Wall Kimmerer for being a font of endless knowledge, both mental and spiritual. Richard Powers, The New York Times Anyone who enjoys being outdoors and thinks we can do more to respect the natural world would enjoy this book. Those who value the indigenous teachings of gratitude to the earth for all it provides would also find this book worthwhile. Tons of beauty, Indigenous wisdom, and knowledge between our relationship with our natural world as human beings.

There is something special about this book. It really speaks to the activist in me and the nature lover in me. And if, like me, you’re into nature writing then this is certainly the book for you; it’s one of the best in the genre I have ever read because of the way it captures the essence of what our role (as humans) should be in the natural world: we are here to protect and nourish, not destroy and overuse. The emphasis here is on gratitude and learning from plants, animals and the natural world as a whole.

My natural inclination was to see relationships, to seek the threads that connect the world, to join instead of divide. But science is rigorous in separating the observer from the observed, and the observed from the observer." I’m all about synthesis, and there’s much work to do with connecting the gifts here with political economy, geopolitics and strategies for systemic change. Braiding Sweetgrass is the book we all need right now. It is a vision of a new world, of reciprocity, gratitude and seeing the living world for what it is: an abundance of gifts. Kimmerer is uniquely placed to braid indigenous knowledge with scientific learnings and she does it with kindness, ingenuity and a poet's prose. It is truly the text for our times. Lucy Jones, author of Losing Eden As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two ways of knowledge together.

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