Reviews tagging 'Death'

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

31 reviews

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Excrement, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, Death, Colonisation, Suicide, War, Genocide, Blood, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Murder

residential schools, trail of death, carlisle, pollution.

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

3.25

The way the author talks about their connection to nature is truly evocative and beautiful.  There’s a familial component to it that, at first, was comforting in that you can find a community all around you if you would but care to look.  But then it began to center motherhood and the assumption that if female, you too will be a mother and experience these things, which was unfortunate.  It became a repetitive narrative that dragged itself to the finish line.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cannibalism, Genocide, Racism, Abandonment, Death, Pregnancy, Animal death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Cancer, Animal cruelty, Classism, Misogyny, Xenophobia, and Religious bigotry

rexpostfacto's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.75

An informative and thought-provoking read. It got a little long for my taste, but overall very enjoyable and stimulating. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide, Racial slurs, Colonisation, and Racism

Minor: Colonisation, Death, War, Forced institutionalization, and Hate crime

booknerd_therapist's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Xenophobia, Death, Racism, Violence, Colonisation, and Genocide

eden_autumn's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Death, Physical abuse, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Racism

Minor: Ableism and Violence

the_reading_wren's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

Genuinely a life-changing book. Inspires me and shows me new way for me to return to studying and practicing ecology. 

I highly recommend the audiobook because it is read wonderfully by the author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Racism, and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Vomit, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Cannibalism, Addiction, Slavery, Stalking, Cancer, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content

parasolcrafter's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

5.0

this really is one of those books someone like me cant really add anything to; all i can say is that its an INCREDIBLE book that i think almost everyone should read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Genocide, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Grief, Death, and Racism

betag1013's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Child death, Animal death, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Genocide, Xenophobia, and War

ashwaar's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

Braiding Sweetgrass is a hefty book packed with stories, anecdotes and emotions. Throughout its pages, Kimmerer takes us along as she surveys mountainsides, harvests roots, saves reptiles from becoming roadkill, and watches her girls grow up and leave home. She discusses the delicate intersection of loving the planet whilst studying it and concludes that you cannot understand the environment if you don't feel for it.

The book has its basis in science, but Kimmerer explains ecological processes so deftly and poetically that it's easy to take in. Even if you don't understand everything, the language and writing style clearly shows her love and respect for the topic. The chapters range in length and topic, but a few of my favourites include the erasure of indigenous languages, stories of tapping maple syrup trees, and rituals performed in thanks for the land.

The book acknowledges and discusses the role of indigenous knowledge in scientific understanding of the Earth and how to live in balance with our land. After reading this, I felt more compelled to pause when hiking to accept the landscapes around me and feel gratitude for them. Braiding Sweetgrass is a non-fiction book I'd recommend to almost everyone as essential reading.

Rating: 4.5/5

Read more on Wordpress at Bookmarked by Ash: https://book990337086.wordpress.com/

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, and Animal death

Moderate: Death and Racism

displacedcactus's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

This book is a modern classic, so I don't really know what I can say in a review that hasn't already been said! I really enjoyed how Kimmerer combines her knowledge as a biologist/conservationist and her knowledge as an Indigenous woman. There were a lot of highs and lows in this book, and like any book about the environment, I swung between hope and despair.

I could have done without the whiff of gender essentialism, with men as fire keepers and women as water bearers, and motherhood as one of the essential stages of a woman's life. But other than that one small complaint, this book was awesome.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Animal death, and Death

The racism is all in discussions of the history of how America has treated our Indigenous people, especially with regards to residential schools, reservations, the Trail of Tears, etc.