Braiding Sweetgrass

Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

By: Robin Wall Kimmerer

Narrated by: Robin Wall Kimmerer

Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2013 Robin Wall Kimmerer (P)2016 Tantor

Read this book!

More than just plants. This book is something we as a species should be proud of our gift of language. This book, I hope it makes it into the hands of people of all different types. It is so beautiful, scientific and community inspired.

An inspiration for all

With each chapter my Spirit was nurtured with the possibilities of our deepened commitments to and for all of life relations. The voices of my ancestors echoed within me to remember all that still lives within me.

Beautiful Book

Every chapter pulls you in, guiding you to the meaning of reciprocity. Poetic, and powerful.

Powerful, moving and soul searching.

The book is beautiful. The teachings and ideas found within it are so powerful and important in this time of unease. The melding of scientific data with the spiritual is seamless and stimulating. We can all learn much from what is contained here. The logic is undeniable. Everyone should read this book and wake up to the importance and connectedness of all.

Gratitude and respect

As an artist with my heart in the natural world, I have great respect and gratitude for the perspective and rich cultural understanding shared by the author. She goes beyond many ecological writings to explore the human place in world balance. Thank you, Robin Wall Kimmerer!

An inspiration, a comfort, a hope

This book filled my heart with joy and wonder at the gifts of the natural world.
Filled my eyes with tears at mourning for what has been lost and taken from us all.
And critically, filled my mind with thoughts of ways forward; methods and practices to shape a world of hope and healing for the earth, for its creatures, and for humanity which has so desperately lost its way.
This book is a memory, long forgotten, of who we are. Read it, listen, and remember.

Must-read for any non-indigenous person

This book weaves science and beauty, "western" and "traditional", reality and hope. Environmentalism explained wholly.

Magical. Inspirational. Healing for the Soul

This is the book I have been spent my whole life searching for. Robin speaks to the spirit. She speaks of healing, wonder, fragility, and strength. She plants seeds that grow deep roots of thought and inspire the reader with their ability to change the world. I feel like many people feel powerless in the face of how much is wrong and how much needs to change to fix this beautiful earth we all call home. But Robin offers a way of thinking and viewing the surroundings that shows that all it takes is a change in mindset and the rest will follow. And that's something we all can do.

A blessing

This is the most powerful, influential, beautiful book I have ever read. The world would genuinely be a better place if everyone had this read under their belt. Gorgeously written, a masterpiece of poetry, science, heart, and story blended into a book you will cherish from start to finish and for the rest of your life. Thank you Robin Wall Kimmerer.

The Stuff of Wisdom

The synthesis of pieces that Kimmerer brings together, from worlds of plants, heartfelt stories, science, history, and landscapes spread wide over this continent, places in the reader’s hands so much content and context to craft one’s own “take-aways”... there are many. I especially love listening to her voice in the narration, which transmutes so much meaning into the words, and offers so many words from the beautiful tongue of the Potawatomi language.