Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Hardcover, 391 pages
English language
Published Oct. 15, 2013 by Milkweed Editions.
As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return.
The most soulful book I've read in my life. The beauty of Kimmerer's words, braiding native, scientific, and modern life is an experience I want to keep going back to.
A very important book, for it tries to bring together indigenous and scientific knowledge. Indigenous knowledge, rituals and observations lead to sustainable life within nature. Very important is to be gratious for presents, given by nature and other humans, instead of buying and selling and seeing everything as commodities.
Kimmerer has opened my eyes to many differences and problems in our (scientific, non-indigenous) way of living.
EV1 says: I literally cried at every new chapter. This is one of the best books I have ever read on Nature and a great inspiration for my own pagan journey
