Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

Robin Wall Kimmerer

Jul 2016 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Robin Wall Kimmerer

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.

Ratings and reviews

I always listen to audiobooks for free but this was the first book that I just had to buy so that I had it for always. Listening to the author just gives you a completely different perspective of the Earth. I will never rip out wild strawberries again! Yes the chapter on lichen is a bit too much for probably most people but you can't judge the whole book on that. I have recommended this book to many people.

Robin's voice is the only thing that could possibly make this beautiful book any more beautiful. I am in awe of her ability to articulate, with poetry and clarity, the interconnected realities of the world that weave their way through and are manifest in the realms of botany, spirituality, Indigenous wisdom and lived experience. I will turn to this treasure again and again, to remember to live by these lessons of reciprocity and listen to our oldest teachers. Migwetch for this gift!

Put simply, every time I opened this book (or opened my ears to the audiobook) my perspective cracked wide open. Admittedly this took me much longer to finish than I'm willing to admit, but I know this is because I wanted to let every single word and concept to work their way into my being. I know this will be a resource I'll return to again and again, and will continually find new nuggets of knowledge. This book is a warm, prolonged hug for the heart, mind, and soul. Thank you.

About the author

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology.