Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling collection of essays Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants as well as Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. Kimmerer is a 2022 MacArthur Fellow. She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.
"[Braiding Sweetgrass] is simultaneously meditative about the
abundance of the natural world and bold in its call to action on
'climate urgency.' Kimmerer asks readers to honor the Earth's
glories, restore rather than take, and reject an economy and
culture rooted in acquiring more. She invites us to learn from
plants and other species, nature's teachers. 'If we use a plant
respectfully, it will flourish. If we ignore it, it will go away, '
she writes. Her work is 'an invitation into reciprocity.'"--Karen
Heller, The Washington Post
"[R]emarkable, wise, and potentially paradigm-shifting . . .
[Braiding Sweetgrass] is a coherent and compelling call for what
[Kimmerer] describes as 'restorative reciprocity', an appreciation
of gifts and the responsibilities that come with them, and how
gratitude can be medicine for our sick, capitalistic world."
--Guardian "Robin Wall Kimmerer is writer of rare grace. She writes
about the natural world from a place of such abundant passion that
one can never quite see the world the same way after having seen it
through Kimmerer's eyes. In Braiding Sweetgrass, she takes us on a
journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred
as it is historical, as clever as it is wise. She is a great
teacher, and her words are a hymn of love to the world."--Elizabeth
Gilbert "Robin Wall Kimmerer has written an extraordinary book,
showing how the factual, objective approach of science can be
enriched by the ancient knowledge of the indigenous people. It is
the way she captures beauty that I love the most--the images of
giant cedars and wild strawberries, a forest in the rain and a
meadow of fragrant sweetgrass will stay with you long after you
read the last page."--Jane Goodall "I give daily thanks for Robin
Wall Kimmerer for being a font of endless knowledge, both mental
and spiritual." --Richard Powers, New York Times "Robin Wall
Kimmerer opens a sense of wonder and humility for the intelligence
in all kinds of life we are used to naming and imagining as
inanimate."--Krista Tippett, host of On Being "The author has given
us a profound perspective of history, restoration, reciprocity,
responsibility and hope. If we take only what we need and find ways
to restore what we do take, we can take care of the earth and she
will take care of us." --Forbes, "All-Star Book Club" "In a world
where only six percent of mammalian biomass on the planet now
comprises of wild animals, I longed for books that pressed me up
against the inhuman, that connected me to an inhuman world.
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer moved me to actual
tears." --Alexandra Kleeman, The Millions "In Braiding Sweetgrass,
botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer tackles everything from sustainable
agriculture to pond scum as a reflection of her Potawatomi
heritage, which carries a stewardship 'which could not be taken by
history: the knowing that we belonged to the land.' . . . It's a
book absorbed with the unfolding of the world to observant
eyes--that sense of discovery that draws us in." --NPR "Botanist,
professor of plant ecology, and Potawatomi woman Robin Wall
Kimmerer merges her experiences within each of these identities and
communities to explore nature through scientific, cultural, and
philosophical lenses. She urges readers to examine their
relationship with the natural world, and open themselves up to the
idea that plants and animals have valuable lessons to teach us."
--BuzzFeed "Kimmerer draws on her own experiences as a botanist and
an indigenous woman to meticulously craft this book of essays about
the importance of nurturing ecological awareness and developing a
relationship with the natural world." --Vogue "[Kimmerer] weaves a
beautiful narrative around the beauty of the natural world and the
lessons it teaches us, which feels so important in these delicate
times." --Elle, "21 Books that Will Put You in a Good Mood"
"Kimmerer shows readers how to step back into natural
compassion."--Los Angeles Times, Best Bookclub Pick "The author's
2013 book of essays on Native folkways concerning plants and their
roles in human life is reissued here with new illustrations and
design, a handsome production that well serves her engaging text,
which will be of interest to readers schooled in the world of
writers such as Wendell Berry, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Joy Harjo .
. . A smart, subtle overlay of different systems of thought that
together teach us to be better citizens of Earth." --Kirkus Reviews
"This NYTimes best-selling book has been on my nightstand the past
two years straight. Not because I haven't finished it, but because
I find myself coming back to it for nourishment again and again."
--Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of World of Wonders "Braiding
Sweetgrass forever changed the genre of nature writing."--Walker
Art Magazine
"Professor and botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer knows that the answer
to all forms of ecological unbalance have long been hidden in plain
sight, told in the language of plants and animals, minerals and
elements. She draws on her own heritage . . . pairing science with
Indigenous principles and storytelling to advocate for a renewed
connection between human beings and nature." --Outside "Kimmerer
eloquently makes the case that by observing and celebrating our
reciprocal relationship with the natural world, one can gain
greater ecological consciousness." --Sierra Magazine "With deep
compassion and graceful prose, Robin Wall Kimmerer encourages
readers to consider the ways that our lives and language weave
through the natural world. A mesmerizing storyteller, she shares
legends from her Potawatomi ancestors to illustrate the culture of
gratitude in which we all should live."--Publishers Weekly "Caring
for plants is important. Published in 2013, Braiding Sweetgrass by
Robin Wall Kimmerer is about just that. Seen through the eyes of a
botanist and Native American, this non-fiction book asks many
questions about botany, while looking to Native American traditions
and Western science for the answers." --British Vogue, "4
Emma-Watson-Approved Books" "The gift of Robin Wall Kimmerer's book
is that she provides readers the ability to see a very common world
in uncommon ways, or, rather, in ways that have been commonly held
but have recently been largely discarded. She puts forth the notion
that we ought to be interacting in such a way that the land should
be thankful for the people."--Minneapolis Star Tribune "Braiding
Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer is just beautiful. It makes the
hours fly by and puts a shimmery haze on the edges of the world."
--PopSugar "Braiding Sweetgrass is instructive poetry. Robin Wall
Kimmerer has put the spiritual relationship that Chief Seattle
called the 'web of life' into writing. Industrial societies lack
the understanding of the interrelationships that bind all living
things--this book fills that void. I encourage one and all to read
these instructions."--Oren Lyons, Faithkeeper, Onondaga Nation and
Indigenous Environmental Leader "I want to give this book to
everyone I know. There's a revelation on every page, like you're
suddenly viewing the world from a slightly different angle."
--Marika McCoola, Porter Square Books "[Kimmerer's] descriptions of
our fellow living relations on Earth often brought me to tears of
grief and gratitude." --Erin Pineda, 27th Letter Books
"[Kimmerer's] eclectic wisdom filled my heart. Readers of Barbara
Kingsolver and Wendell Berry will find much to savor in this
beautiful meditation on what once was and could be again." --Kris
Kleindienst "This beautifully steady book uses Sweetgrass as a
guide for observation, respect, and indigenous wisdom, but it holds
even more than that. Packed full of stories about many of the
natural worlds' other inhabitants, Kimmerer breathes nostalgia,
reciprocity, gratitude, hard work and practicality into every
minute--just as she was taught." --Katelynn Tefft, Third Place
Books "Equal parts Native American history, climate science,
botany, and poetry, Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass slips in like a
long bittersweet draft." --Griffin Mauser, Bookpeople
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