peachmoni's review against another edition

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informative inspiring slow-paced

4.0


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astrangewind's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

Braiding Sweetgrass is required reading. Not just for naturalists, but for everyone on this planet. 

Kimmerer weaves together stories and science effortlessly, leading the reader from her first foray into botanical sciences all the way through the current climate crisis. Even so, the book's message is ultimately one of hope and healing, of restoring our individual and collective relationships to the land. 

So much of this book reaches deep inside of me and pulls at my emotions. Longing for a childhood spent stooped in the strawberry patch, eating the fruit in spring; the need to give gifts and connect with others; pain for the pollution of Lake Onondaga and the blatant disregard for the earth; hope for restoration; the urge to restore, to dig my fingers deep into the dry, cracked soil and turning it to rich, black humus. 

There are many writers who aim to write about spirituality and nature, but these writers tend to place humans at the helm of life on earth, and plants as objects to be used, a mishmash of American colonialism and haphazard tenets cherry-picked from (usually) Hinduism. But Kimmerer shows us instead the Indigenous perspective: that there is personhood in all things, that we must engage in reciprocity with the land, that we have a moral duty to repair what has been broken. She urges the reader: don't despair - feel your hands itching to dig, to seed, to carry a salamander safely across the road in the palms of your hands. 

Kimmerer is a scientist, but she casts aside the scientific worldview we tend to have in America, that everything needs rigorous testing, that there's no place for the spiritual, or for love. But I think any botanist or nature scientist or even anyone who has tasted a fresh wild strawberry can tell you that love is not only necessary but unavoidable. 

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apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0


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rosie_valadez's review against another edition

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savouris18's review against another edition

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challenging inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

5.0


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bubblybelle's review against another edition

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hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

this book spoke to my soul in a way very few things have. truly phenomenal. could not recommend enough. 

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vereisnthere's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced

4.0


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takarakei's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

I really enjoyed the combination of memoir style writing infused with nature writing providing lots of interesting info. The writing is beautifully descriptive and moving. As someone who grew up in the area (outside Syracuse) she writes about a lot, there was a nostalgic factor for me as well.

My one qualm (and this could be indicative of this being published a decade ago) is I think Wall Kimmerer shies away a bit from giving any real solutions besides to become "closer to nature" which reads a bit naive considering where we are as a world right now. Unfortunately we are just so far past the way indigenous people used to live that I struggle to see a path that leads anywhere near back there.  

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danajoy's review against another edition

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hopeful informative reflective sad

4.25


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readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

4.0


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