Braiding Sweetgrass

Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

by

Hardcover, 391 pages

English language

Published Oct. 15, 2013 by Milkweed Editions.

ISBN:
978-1-57131-335-5
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OCLC Number:
868925013

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(2 reviews)

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.

14 editions

reviewed Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

A Transformative Treatise of Indigenous Wisdom

Braiding Sweetgrass was the most impactful book I read in 2025. Kimmerer's poetic writing is both moving and precise, and reveals the inner workings of heart with true reverence for the magic and mystery of the natural world. She will open your mind to animism with the spirit she infuses into her stories, and bolster her statements with sound science. The book has completely rewired my nervous system with a felt appreciation for the living essence in all things and has improved my outlook on our situation as the natural world now seems to come alive in service of a newly shared understanding or mutual respect and reciprocity. This book is truly for everyone - we all emerged from this indigenous interconnection with the natural world and the yearning to remember these lifeways is deep within our bones!

reviewed Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Review of 'Braiding Sweetgrass' on 'Storygraph'

This book has permanently changed the way I think about the world. It made me so overwhelmed with emotions that at times I had to set down my phone and cry for a few minutes. But it is beautiful. It is poignant and important and it has given me renewed hope for a world that is increasingly terrifying. 

Subjects

  • Kimmerer, Robin Wall
  • Indian philosophy
  • Ethnoecology
  • Philosophy of nature
  • Human ecology--Philosophy
  • Nature--Effect of human beings on
  • Human-plant relationships
  • Botany--Philosophy
  • Potawatomi Indians--Biography
  • Potawatomi Indians--Social life and customs