Reviews

A profoundly important book that both challenges and inspires the reader. I think l will be reflecting on Braiding Sweetgrass for a long time, and I hope to see its fruits in my own life (even though I don’t think I’m about to become a gardener).

Kimmerer does an incredible job of laying out the dangers of our current moment and the wisdom and intelligence of Indigenous land knowledge, all while writing an incredibly accessible book that never feels preachy. I really liked the essay style, but I do think it could be about 100 pages shorter.

dominic_t's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

This was a really fascinating book. The author did a great job of weaving together stories and plant teachings. The stories really made the plant teachings come alive. This book got me thinking a lot more deeply about nature and my relationship to the world.

I had heard about the Three Sisters (squash, beans, and corn), and I loved learning about why they grow so well together. The beans' vines wrap around the corn, which lifts their pods off the ground so that they don't get eaten by predators. The beans also provide nitrogen, which helps the corn and squash. The squash reduces weeds. I really hope I have enough space someday to grow a Three Sisters garden.

I also loved the chapter "Wisgaak Gokpenagen: A Black Ash Basket." The author talks about the process of weaving black ash baskets, starting from picking out a tree to cut down. It was really fascinating hearing about every step of the process.

The chapter "Sitting in a Circle" talked about foraging in a cattail marsh. It was fascinating to hear all the ways that you can use cattails and other marsh plants. I had no idea that you could eat cattails or that pollen had nutritional value.

"Mishkos Kenomagwen: The Teachings of Grass" was another great chapter. One of her students was studying the best way to harvest sweetgrass to protect the population. The faculty committee thought she was wasting her time because they thought that harvesting sweetgrass would damage the population regardless of the harvesting method. She ran an experiment where she tried out different harvest methods, and she found that harvesting sweetgrass stimulated more growth, regardless of the method of harvest. It was a cool way to see how traditional knowledge is backed up by science.

Content Warnings

solaratmidnight's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring slow-paced

4.5

a lot I'll be thinking on for a while

whackboy's review against another edition

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hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

thefantasticalworldofsara's review against another edition

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5.0

This is a book meant to be read slowly and I'm so glad I took my time with it so I could take the time to absorb all of the knowledge, stories and beautiful language! I cannot praise this book enough, it's definitely one of my favourite books of the year.

It is a book about nature and reciprocity and most importantly, hope. I've never given much thought about how the earth cares for us but god this book made me want to weep from all of the gifts we're given that I never thought about.

This book felt like taking a warm bubble bath. I cannot wait to re-read this book in the future, there is so much more I want to unpack from it.

Please, please read this book!!

ps. The views expressed in this review are my own and do not reflect the views of Indigo Books & Music Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. #IndigoEmployee

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