Braiding Sweetgrass
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 lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider 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 are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return.
Stats for nerds
15recommend
28mentions
19people
2019–2026years
82% recommend14% neutral4% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- +1 for the hidden life of trees!
Try also:
- "Anthill" by E. O. Wilson
- "The Overstory" by Richard Powers
- "Oak: The Frame of Civilization" by William Bryant Logan
- "Sprout Lands: Tending the Endless Gift of Trees" by William Bryant Logan
- "Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- > Accepting a gift without an intention to reciprocate is an admission of social inferiority.
I wish I'd read your response more thoroughly before responding from my phone in a parking lot.
You do not understand gift economies at all. You've reduced them to transactionality, which is capitalism, and capitalism kills gift economies for fun.
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a molecular biologist who is also a mother and a member of the Anishnaabe peoples. Braiding Sweetgrass is a book everyone should read, but you especially. The Serviceberry is a much shorter and denser discussion of gift economies but I doubt it's approachable for anyone who has read nothing of hers.
- If you liked this article, I recommend Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass. She's a professional plant scientist and researcher, and her books are both informative and a delightful read.
- When playing guitar, instead of gripping the neck tightly as if your hand was a vise, grip it lightly and pull the neck toward your body instead. Make sure the action of your guitar is not too high; if it is, get it adjusted.
Listening is more important than talking, but don’t automatically believe what you hear. Find out for yourself.
Observing animals and plants can teach one about humans and living in harmony with nature’s cycles.
Some people are not capable of feeling empathy. Learn to recognize them.
Your initial intuition is often wrong about numbers and statistics and many things, even if you are an expert. Double check. Triple check. Discuss with others you trust.
A little at a time goes a long way (understanding compound interest).
Certainty leads to insanity (regarding the “trade” of life).
References:
- The Creative Act by Rick Rubin
- The Listening Book: Discovering Your Own Music by W. A. Mathieu
- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- The First and Last Freedom by Jiddu Krishnamurti
- The Psychopath Code by Peter Hintjens
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- Fingers Pointing to the Moon by Jane English
- Braiding Sweetgrass, if you haven’t read it already.
- Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
