Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

48 reviews

for_esme_with_love's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Child abuse and Racism

jedore's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

"Your strange hunger for ease should not be a death sentence for the rest of Creation."

I took too long to read this book....probably because a part of me wanted to read it when I lived closer to nature in Panamá. 

And, what a fascinating one it was. 

Each chapter is a poetically written vignette...part science textbook, part indigenous wisdom, part love story between the author and the planet, and part tragedy. 

It solidified my feeling that my soul is deeply indigenous...left with only faint memories of a communal, humble, grateful life that was deeply connected to nature. 

I'm left feeling more sad about the state of our Mother Earth, probably because the people who read this book already understand the direness of the situation and the ones who need to read it the most probably won't. I think we're doomed to destroy her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Moderate: Animal death

semeyers's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

This book truly deserves every ounce of praise that it has gotten.

Part memoir, part informative look at indigenous knowledge, part biology textbook, Braiding Sweetgrass weaves all of these concepts together flawlessly.  Whether exploring what indigenous knowledge has to teach us, to what has been forgotten, this book will teach you something about our natural world, our place in it, and our relationship to it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Minor: Alcohol and Animal death

art_books_chemistry's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

Braiding Sweetgrass is a combination memoir and reflective essay, mashed together with a history and science lesson. As a botanist, Kimmerer is able to use scientific logic to explain some of the cultural teachings of her and other indigenous peoples. She also uses these teachings to evaluate morality and the relationship humans have with the earth. A lot of her stories focus on the process of living off the land whether because you have to or simply because by being here we are doing so. 

Listening to Kimmerer narrating was very relaxing and nearly meditative. I listened to a lot of this while walking back and forth through Cleveland from my hotel to the convention center while attending a conference. That being said, I could not listen to this while multitasking before bed, as for the same reason it would cause me to drift off to sleep. I also found some of her stories to be a bit repetitive in their lessons. I suppose it could have been to drive home her points but it also caused me to drift out occasionally since I knew where she was going with a story. 

I really enjoyed hearing her talk about Indigenous teachings and how she tries to implement them in her academic classrooms as well as her life. Some of the points definitely made me think about some things I could maybe try or do myself. There were also several sad parts relating to her learning her own language as an adult and the attitudes of some of the people in academia. 

If you're looking to understand some Indigenous peoples better or just to understand a different view regarding caring for the Earth this is definitely a good book. If you aren't interested in the subject matter it may feel a bit dry and repetitive at points. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Colonisation

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Genocide and Animal death

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation and Racism

Moderate: Xenophobia, Death, War, Grief, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Sexism, Suicide, Vomit, Alcohol, Car accident, Cannibalism, Excrement, Abandonment, Child death, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Climate change, habitat destruction, pollution.

nodogsonthemoon's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Colonisation, Animal death, Grief, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Genocide

Minor: Child death, Cannibalism, Car accident, Hate crime, Suicide, and War

offbrandclubsoda's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Genocide, and Racism

Minor: Animal death

aguattery's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring slow-paced

4.0

Honestly I struggled through this one. I understand why the author narrated so slowly but it made it hard to focus. Honestly some of the essays I could have done without. I was going to rate it 3 stars but the ending was so chilling and has inspired me to read it again as I feel like I didn't glean all of the lessons. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Colonisation, and Genocide

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Racism

Minor: Cannibalism

klor's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative inspiring slow-paced

4.0

A great look at how science, native traditions, and living are all intertwined with each other. I've always believed that sometimes a soulmate could be a place and the notion of being people of a place that was present throughout the book made me really happy. It's beautifully written, powtic in a lot of points despite the repetitiveness of some of the ongoing themes throughout. It was fascinating to hear about other cultures, the author's own interaction with her family and students. The chapter on relearning your people's language made me cry a little. It's long but it definitely doesn't feel wasteful. These stories are good companies for hot summer afternoons. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation and Animal death

eagoldberg's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death