Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Written by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Narrated by Robin Wall Kimmerer
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers.
In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowing together to reveal what it means to see humans as "the younger brothers of creation". As she explores these themes, she circles toward a central argument: The awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgement and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the world. Once we begin to listen for the languages of other beings, we can begin to understand the innumerable life-giving gifts the world provides us and learn to offer our thanks, our care, and our own gifts in return.
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Her first book, Gathering Moss, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing. Her writings have appeared in Orion, Whole Terrain, and numerous scientific journals. She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.
Reviews for Braiding Sweetgrass
1,167 ratings99 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hearing this book read by the author and hearing her deep love and understanding for our human and non human relatives around us was a gift. I listened to this book with my children and they loved and appreciated it too.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Beautiful piece of literature. I admire the perspectives of the author, who is able to share native naturalistic views to our present climate, cultural and political troubles. So simple, yet deeply woven into this beautiful book, told in little stories, with beautiful natural messages, as if Mother Nature was speaking through the author, begging us to se the moral of the story this time. I can say that this book will stay with me forever, changing the way I view the world forever. Such a lovely read. I would recommend this book to anyone questioning our future as humanity and wondering how to proceed in a helpful way to save this earth for our children.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Incredible journey with a soulful wise elder woman as our guide. I just finished the audiobook but plan to listen and read again because there's so much rich knowledge in these pages that I cannot bear the thought of missing something.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was the perfect mix of poetic writing, ecology, autobiographical life experience and indigenous knowledge. Each chapter seamlessly builds on each other and inspires such compassion for nature. The theme of reciprocity will stick with me. This is a paradigm altering book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazing! Such an incredible story, told by an incredible story teller. So many life lessons interwoven in stories which leave you inspired to lead a more honorable path. Great read/listen
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beautiful book. Full of Wisdom and insights to view the world with a more conscious and sustainable mindset.