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Reviews tagging 'Racism'
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
75 reviews
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Braiding Sweetgrass held the reverence of a holy text, the wisdom of generations, and the seeds of a new worldview. It's an incredible book that lends itself to slow reading, deep thinking, and long walks while listening.
This book both fits into and expands my spiritual world. Robin Wall Kimmerer's cultural and scientific knowledge was new to me but is taught by a loving teacher (and Kimmerer's own voice in the audiobook added warmth to the lesson). I cried, I smiled, I thought of the Lorax, and I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who walks on this earth.
This book both fits into and expands my spiritual world. Robin Wall Kimmerer's cultural and scientific knowledge was new to me but is taught by a loving teacher (and Kimmerer's own voice in the audiobook added warmth to the lesson). I cried, I smiled, I thought of the Lorax, and I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who walks on this earth.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation
Moderate: Racism
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Credibility & Research – 10/10
Let’s be real: Kimmerer could write a botanical dissertation in her sleep and still outclass your average nature writer before breakfast. She’s a professor of environmental biology and an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, which gives her a double PhD in science and lived Indigenous experience. Her research isn’t just cited; it’s lived, braided, and tended with tobacco offerings. She doesn’t just drop stats; she builds a relationship with grass. Literal grass. Her experiments on sweetgrass harvesting are robust, scientific, and interwoven with cultural insight that humbles Western academia into a silent corner.
Let’s be real: Kimmerer could write a botanical dissertation in her sleep and still outclass your average nature writer before breakfast. She’s a professor of environmental biology and an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, which gives her a double PhD in science and lived Indigenous experience. Her research isn’t just cited; it’s lived, braided, and tended with tobacco offerings. She doesn’t just drop stats; she builds a relationship with grass. Literal grass. Her experiments on sweetgrass harvesting are robust, scientific, and interwoven with cultural insight that humbles Western academia into a silent corner.
Authenticity & Uniqueness – 10/10
This book is a genre-defying unicorn. It’s science! It’s memoir! It’s poetry! It’s a ritual in prose! Kimmerer doesn’t just “blend” Indigenous wisdom and Western science—she braids them together with such ease that I started wondering if sweetgrass should replace peer-reviewed journals. Her voice is rooted, reverent, and rebellious all at once. I’ve read a lot of environmental writing, and trust me, nothing else sounds like this.
This book is a genre-defying unicorn. It’s science! It’s memoir! It’s poetry! It’s a ritual in prose! Kimmerer doesn’t just “blend” Indigenous wisdom and Western science—she braids them together with such ease that I started wondering if sweetgrass should replace peer-reviewed journals. Her voice is rooted, reverent, and rebellious all at once. I’ve read a lot of environmental writing, and trust me, nothing else sounds like this.
Writing Style – 9/10
Her prose is so lush I wanted to roll in it like a dog in fresh-cut hay. She's lyrical without being pretentious, wise without being preachy. That said, it is a long read. Sometimes the poetic pacing slows to a dreamy crawl, and I had to shake myself like, “Wait, was that a full page on raindrop metaphysics?” But even when she’s meandering, the language is gorgeous. Think Mary Oliver meets a mossy forest floor.
Her prose is so lush I wanted to roll in it like a dog in fresh-cut hay. She's lyrical without being pretentious, wise without being preachy. That said, it is a long read. Sometimes the poetic pacing slows to a dreamy crawl, and I had to shake myself like, “Wait, was that a full page on raindrop metaphysics?” But even when she’s meandering, the language is gorgeous. Think Mary Oliver meets a mossy forest floor.
Personal Impact – 10/10
This book didn’t just change how I think about nature—it rewired the entire motherboard. It made me want to apologize to every plant I’ve ever neglected. I found myself rethinking consumption, relationship, and reciprocity. Kimmerer doesn’t demand change; she seduces it with grace, making the sacred feel tangible and the ordinary shimmer with meaning.
This book didn’t just change how I think about nature—it rewired the entire motherboard. It made me want to apologize to every plant I’ve ever neglected. I found myself rethinking consumption, relationship, and reciprocity. Kimmerer doesn’t demand change; she seduces it with grace, making the sacred feel tangible and the ordinary shimmer with meaning.
Intrigue – 9/10
Did I devour every chapter like a snack made of sass and soul? Almost. While most essays pulled me in like a good myth, a few felt like meditative strolls through very quiet, very misty forests—beautiful, but not exactly page-turners. Still, her narrative voice is warm and inviting, like a fireside storyteller with a PhD and a killer side-eye for colonizers.
Did I devour every chapter like a snack made of sass and soul? Almost. While most essays pulled me in like a good myth, a few felt like meditative strolls through very quiet, very misty forests—beautiful, but not exactly page-turners. Still, her narrative voice is warm and inviting, like a fireside storyteller with a PhD and a killer side-eye for colonizers.
Logic & Informativeness – 10/10
Kimmerer delivers her science with a poet’s pen and a teacher’s clarity. I got crash courses in ecology, plant behavior, and Indigenous philosophy, all without once feeling like I needed a glossary or a nap. Her arguments are tightly reasoned, emotionally compelling, and often subversive in the best way possible—turning conventional science on its head while still using it like a pro.
Kimmerer delivers her science with a poet’s pen and a teacher’s clarity. I got crash courses in ecology, plant behavior, and Indigenous philosophy, all without once feeling like I needed a glossary or a nap. Her arguments are tightly reasoned, emotionally compelling, and often subversive in the best way possible—turning conventional science on its head while still using it like a pro.
Enjoyment – 10/10
Reading Braiding Sweetgrass felt like receiving a blessing wrapped in stories. I laughed, I sighed, I texted friends excerpts like the annoying book evangelist I am. Would I recommend it? Absolutely. Would I re-read it? Already started. This isn’t just a book. It’s an offering. And I’m still untying the ribbons.
Reading Braiding Sweetgrass felt like receiving a blessing wrapped in stories. I laughed, I sighed, I texted friends excerpts like the annoying book evangelist I am. Would I recommend it? Absolutely. Would I re-read it? Already started. This isn’t just a book. It’s an offering. And I’m still untying the ribbons.
Final Verdict: 68/70 – A floral-scented masterpiece with bark, bite, and botanical brilliance.
If you don’t love this book, I’m not saying you’re wrong... but I will definitely be side-eying your houseplants for signs of spiritual distress.
If you don’t love this book, I’m not saying you’re wrong... but I will definitely be side-eying your houseplants for signs of spiritual distress.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Grief, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation
Minor: Death, Emotional abuse, Classism
While the book doesn’t include graphic content, it engages deeply with themes of colonization, cultural loss, and ecological destruction—all explored through personal narrative, Indigenous history, and spiritual reflection. Kimmerer approaches these topics with grace and healing energy, but they carry emotional weight, especially for readers with lived experience of marginalization or displacement. The death of her father, the erasure of Native languages, and the exploitation of land are recurring threads—never sensationalized, but undeniably poignant.
emotional
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Genocide, Racism, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
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/
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/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation
Moderate: Death, Racism
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Racism
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.
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
A very insightful and significant book. Kimmerer offers a lot of insights into plants, cultures, and our modern world, helping readers to examine the world they live in every day. Kimmerer has such a profound voice in her writing that is wonderful to read. She has wonderful, emotion-provoking descriptions throughout the novel that makes you truly feel these lessons. Toward the middle of the book, I felt like there was a lag in the flow of information where parts seemed not to fit together as well as in the beginning and end. Fundamentally, this is a well-written and important book that I would highly suggest to others.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Racism, Xenophobia, Vomit, Colonisation
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Cultural appropriation
Minor: Cannibalism
This book goes into graphic depth about climate change and the death of nature and our planet.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
This book made me deeply reflect on my own life and the ways that I interact with nature. I hope it changed me for the better. I also was pleasantly surprised to see how narrative-based this book was. It made the read faster and more interesting. And Kimmerer’s language is so beautiful, while maintaining a simplicity that kept everything easy to understand. Especially to hear it in her own voice, I felt like I was floating along these words.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Racism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Colonisation
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Genocide, Racism, Colonisation
occasionally graphic descriptions of native american boarding schools, forced removal of native tribes from their ancestral lands, etc
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Colonisation
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
There's a profound heaviness we feel about our collective wounds and responsibilities in how the planet is changing, suffering, and asking for help during these times. I'm grateful this book doesn't shy away from that, giving language to the overwhelm we're navigating, tracing it back to our ruptured connection with land and the patterns upheld to keep us in constant states of struggle, survival, and forgetfulness.
By sharing her lived experiences in reclaiming, remembering, and honoring practices kept alive by her own and other indigenous lineages (US-based), the author invites us to reflect on our own capacities and efforts of being in right relationship with the living world. In this book, I found reflections of how my own struggles of unbelonging and loneliness are linked to a sense of feeling orphaned from land, from wider community. I found deep queries and burning desires within me - not having much framework for being local to anywhere - to embody a more reciprocal and grounded approach to the natural world, to this planet who still feeds and tends to us through all this chaos.
For this and so much more, I feel this is a crucial read to help situate and cultivate hope, courage, and determination within as we journey through these giant waves of grief and renewal with our Mother Earth.
By sharing her lived experiences in reclaiming, remembering, and honoring practices kept alive by her own and other indigenous lineages (US-based), the author invites us to reflect on our own capacities and efforts of being in right relationship with the living world. In this book, I found reflections of how my own struggles of unbelonging and loneliness are linked to a sense of feeling orphaned from land, from wider community. I found deep queries and burning desires within me - not having much framework for being local to anywhere - to embody a more reciprocal and grounded approach to the natural world, to this planet who still feeds and tends to us through all this chaos.
For this and so much more, I feel this is a crucial read to help situate and cultivate hope, courage, and determination within as we journey through these giant waves of grief and renewal with our Mother Earth.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation
Moderate: Racism, Grief
Minor: Animal death, Suicide, Violence, Fire/Fire injury