Social Sciences
![Jose Saramago - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B000APB7VQ.jpg)
![Robin Wall Kimmerer - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B001KIHUZE.jpg)
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
A New York Times Bestseller
A Washington Post Bestseller
Named a "Best Essay Collection of the Decade" by Literary Hub
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 lenses of knowledge together to take us on "a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise" (Elizabeth Gilbert).
Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as 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. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.
A Washington Post Bestseller
Named a "Best Essay Collection of the Decade" by Literary Hub
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 lenses of knowledge together to take us on "a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise" (Elizabeth Gilbert).
Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as 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. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.
Editorial Reviews
"Robin Wall Kimmerer is writer of rare grace. She writes about the natural world from a place of such abundant passion that one can never quite see the world the same way after having seen it through Kimmerer's eyes. In Braiding Sweetgrass, she takes us on a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise. She is a great teacher, and her words are a hymn of love to the world."―Elizabeth Gilbert
"Robin Wall Kimmerer has written an extraordinary book, showing how the factual, objective approach of science can be enriched by the ancient knowledge of the indigenous people. It is the way she captures beauty that I love the most―the images of giant cedars and wild strawberries, a forest in the rain and a meadow of fragrant sweetgrass will stay with you long after you read the last page."―Jane Goodall
"I give daily thanks for Robin Wall Kimmerer for being a font of endless knowledge, both mental and spiritual." ―Richard Powers, New York Times
"Robin Wall Kimmerer opens a sense of wonder and humility for the intelligence in all kinds of life we are used to naming and imagining as inanimate."―Krista Tippett, host of On Being
"In a world where only six percent of mammalian biomass on the planet now comprises of wild animals, I longed for books that pressed me up against the inhuman, that connected me to an inhuman world. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer moved me to actual tears." ―Alexandra Kleeman, The Millions
"In Braiding Sweetgrass, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer tackles everything from sustainable agriculture to pond scum as a reflection of her Potawatomi heritage, which carries a stewardship 'which could not be taken by history: the knowing that we belonged to the land.' . . . It's a book absorbed with the unfolding of the world to observant eyes―that sense of discovery that draws us in." ―NPR
"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." ―Outside
"Kimmerer eloquently makes the case that by observing and celebrating our reciprocal relationship with the natural world, one can gain greater ecological consciousness." ―Sierra Magazine
"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 fr...
"Robin Wall Kimmerer has written an extraordinary book, showing how the factual, objective approach of science can be enriched by the ancient knowledge of the indigenous people. It is the way she captures beauty that I love the most―the images of giant cedars and wild strawberries, a forest in the rain and a meadow of fragrant sweetgrass will stay with you long after you read the last page."―Jane Goodall
"I give daily thanks for Robin Wall Kimmerer for being a font of endless knowledge, both mental and spiritual." ―Richard Powers, New York Times
"Robin Wall Kimmerer opens a sense of wonder and humility for the intelligence in all kinds of life we are used to naming and imagining as inanimate."―Krista Tippett, host of On Being
"In a world where only six percent of mammalian biomass on the planet now comprises of wild animals, I longed for books that pressed me up against the inhuman, that connected me to an inhuman world. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer moved me to actual tears." ―Alexandra Kleeman, The Millions
"In Braiding Sweetgrass, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer tackles everything from sustainable agriculture to pond scum as a reflection of her Potawatomi heritage, which carries a stewardship 'which could not be taken by history: the knowing that we belonged to the land.' . . . It's a book absorbed with the unfolding of the world to observant eyes―that sense of discovery that draws us in." ―NPR
"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." ―Outside
"Kimmerer eloquently makes the case that by observing and celebrating our reciprocal relationship with the natural world, one can gain greater ecological consciousness." ―Sierra Magazine
"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 fr...
Readers Top Reviews
James C. CasterlineM
This was an interesting book to read though the reader probably didn't appreciate it enough. This is a "what if" story based on a translator intentionally adding a word to a translation which significantly changes the history the book writes about. This probably could have been a short story but the author uses his character well, adds detail, writes one of the lter native history, adds a romantic/business interest and turns it into good book. I recommend it even though I am probably not qualified to do so.
Laurab
If you're in the mood to concentrate and take on irrepressible wit wrapped in lengthy swirling sentences, and plot layered with wry comments on the act of writing, the reality of fiction and its purpose or purposelessness--then take on Saramago's amazing novel The History of the Seige of Lisbon. It's worth the cerebral energy.
Squirrel fanM. klein
You cannot be disappointed reading anything Saramago wrote.
Seachranaiche
I have had a difficult time deciding how many stars I should appoint to "The History of the Siege of Lisbon", and here's why--I found the following passage to be a pragmatic and insightful observation of human character: "...We're positively mad, Do you mean us, No, I was referring to people in general, I'm one of those people who thinks that human beings have always been mentally deranged, As platitudes go, that isn't bad, Perhaps it will sound less like a platitude if I tell you that in my opinion madness is the result of the shock produced in man by his own intelligence and we still haven't recovered from the trauma three million years later..." This is part of a conversation between the two main contemporary characters in the book, Raimundo Silva and Maria Sara, and no matter how many times I re-read it, ticking off sentence by sentence, I cannot tell who believes human beings to be mentally deranged, Raimundo Silva or Maria Sara. I suspect these words belong to Silva because they have a male arrogance about them, but that's not the point. These words could just as easily have come from Maria Sara. It is possible that Saramago meant for the reader to be confused, to show his characters becoming one mentally as well as physically, but I don't think so. I think that in the original Portuguese there is some gender inflection that casts this dialog in context. Perhaps, perhaps not, but here's the rub: When an author abandons the norms of punctuation and structure in order to create a different ambience within the story, well, the story better work. This could be the most difficult book I have ever read. I am even thinking back to my days with Proust and Dostoevsky, and I think Saramago's got them beat. I experienced moments of sincere enjoyment, but these were few. For the most part this book was pure work, confusing and slow. But within the confused sentence structure I could sometimes sense a meter; I could detect an order and flow to the words and I found an irony there. Saramago's main character, a proof-reader, alters history by changing a single word in a historical text, launching a hidden narrative that reaches out from medieval times to connect with the present--islands in the stream of time. The continuity of timelessness is what Saramago represents with his run-on sentence structure, and his lines in the Portuguese must read with the beauty of verse. Alas, this beauty is lost in the English translation, like a crucial change in a historical account, creating a much different story, almost a mystery...interesting, now I must re-read the book. Brilliant! Five stars.
