I’ve been reading this lyrical, beautiful book that talks about people in relation to the land and offers up a look at indigenous ways of knowledge that are very different. She’s a botanist and a member of the Potawatomi First Nation. Her writing is just so stately and so beautiful. I’m sorry the review is so short. You ought to read this book.
by nevertoolate2
44 Comments
I’ve heard a lot of good things about this one. Definitely want to read it!
I listened to it on audio, it was magical. Her voice is soothing with so much wisdom.
I read Braiding Sweetgrass in 2014 and I still think about it often. It is such a beautiful book to read, and I don’t use phrases like that frequently.
It’s a tad long but I HIGHLY recommend it.
It’s truly such an incredible book!
Monique Gray Smith just released a Young Adult adaptation of it so younger readers can enjoy it more accessibly now too! ☺️
She also wrote Gathering Moss, which I recently finished. Definitely recommend!
I wept at several points throughout the book as I found her writing so moving. I did find that most chapters had a very emotionally connective quality to them, so when I came across the random chapter that I felt disconnected from, it surprised me. I would highly recommend this book!
I’m reading this too and it’s spectacular. I so appreciate being introduced to a beautiful new worldview.
One of the best nonfiction books I’ve ever read ❤️
We used an excerpt from this on our intro philosophy of science paper earlier this year. It’s a great way of introducing students to the complexities of institutional science, and how bringing in other ways of looking at the world can make for better science that benefits more people. It’s a great counterargument to the preconception that science and indigenous knowledge are incompatible.
Wonderful powerful book. Similar nonfiction Big Trees, fiction The Overstory
She has a wonderful episode on the Ologies podcast about native cuisine. Big recommend for the podcast and for that episode if you enjoy her. Every episode has an amazing expert like herself on explaining their fields
My daughter has this book assigned for high school English this year. I’ll have to read it when she is done!
Highjacking this thread because I’m currently listening to the audiobook and I LOVE it so I was wondering if there were similar books from other countries/cultures.
I’d love to read a book like Braiding Sweetgrass from a Japanese perspective or a South American one. Anyone know any books like that?
As an indigenous person, it made me weep in parts. As a child of an abusive household that found refuge in nature, it was a reminder of everything I loved about our connection to the land.
She did a recent podcast interview on Ologies about moss, similar to gathering moss. It was amazing.
Her book was doubly special because I live near her in central NY, so it felt like she was talking about special places right in my backyard <3
If you’re ever nearby in the Syracuse area, the Ska Nonh Great Law of Peace Center has a very interesting history of the first people in the area and you can buy her book there too!
I agree. Very beautiful book! Check it out if you haven’t!
The book was beautifully written and the topic was fantastic.
However, it starts to fee extremely long and preachy in some areas, making it hard to finish. There’s the occasional disjointed chapter that threw me off as well. I think some editing to pare it down a bit would have made this book incredible. I ended up reading it more as a collection of small essays rather than as a book.
We read it for book club a few months ago and no one finished in the 4 weeks we planned. Someone in our group had read it for another book club previously and no one in that club had been able to finish either.
I’m about halfway through this, going very slow just to savor it. Every chapter is utterly beautiful. I definitely recommend it!
This book got me into camping, for whatever that’s worth. It got me out into nature regardless — my last few trips with my best friends have been about seeing state parks. I think this is also what lead me to gardening my own veggies. My connection to the earth under my feet has grown, and I am only better for it.
A culture of giving rather than that of private property. This book opened my eyes to a different perspective on traditional western values.
Loved this book.
I read this book earlier this year and I do think it literally changed my life. Knocked my whole world view into focus.
Reading her works helped me to realize just how riddled with cancer the world I was raised in really is. Her language is indeed beautiful and at times, I agree with other comments, the prose made me tear up; but in reflection, it was more in response to the creeping feeling that I’ll never know anyone who personally thinks that way or considers the natural world in those contexts. It was like reading Stranger in a Strange Land but in reverse; she was the indigenous naturalist and we are all the Martians.
I’m in the middle of reading this too, and it hits all the right notes for me. The fact that she has a scientific background keeps it from coming off as too “woo-woo,” and she does a brilliant job of showing how scientific and Indigenous ways of knowing don’t have to be at odds and can actually support each other. And I love the way she weaves together her history, traditional teachings, and scientific expertise.
Truly one of the most beautiful reading experiences I’ve ever had. I’m currently borrowing it from the library (I live in a small apartment, so have to be a bit stingy about physical books), but this is definitely one I’ll be adding to my collection.
Halfway through and loving it.
It’s nice seeing people reading more books by indiegnous authors (and I find a particular joy in seeing nish authors getting more attention).
This book changed my life, I cried at least once on every chapter. She has a way of tying science and ancestral indigenous knowledge together that feels like an epiphanic revelation. I cannot recommend this book enough, I really think the world would be a better place if it was required reading for every single person on the planet.
I visited Canada few months ago and bought this book on the ferry to Vancouver Island, but I still have to read it! I’ll take your post as an encouragement and start it asap
It is such a beautiful and magical book. I am so happy to see others are reading it too.
My only beef about it is her bit where she fantasized about tying meat to the ducks so they would be killed so they would go away. For someone who cares so much about what she might me accidentally killing while cleaning out the pond…..it was really jarring for her to be so hateful about the ducks. Made her seem way less genuine in everything else she was saying. Where was her reciprocity for the ducks? Note: I am awar I am biased in this as I have ducks (a lot of them)….they are poop machines, but also give me so much joy. I literally can’t imagine anyone having such vitriol for these peaceful little babies.
It’s really a moving book. I went on a solo camping trip a couple years back and read it over the course of a few days sittin in the sun by the fire or in my tent with the rain pattering down.
When you consider the environment or more generally the external world as a person who deserves to be dignified and respected as much as yourself you really start to understand that a true relationship can be formed, and that we are all a bunch of assholes to the great, ceaselessly generous world of ours.
It quickly became my favorite book as I was reading it— like being wrapped up in a well-worn wool blanket. I’d also recommend Gathering Moss and listening to her Ologies episode!
A teen edition was recently released, co-written by Monique Gray Smith.
This is one of my all time favorite books! And I’m not usually a big non fiction reader.
I’ve listened to it, read it. Bought it in hard cover and am going to take little notes and then pass it around to the women in my family to read and take notes.
It’s just amazing.
My wife keeps telling me I need to read it. I guess I will go find out copy and pack it for our vacation
One of the best books I’ve ever read! I recommend it to everyone.
I had a bit of an eye opening when she described the 3 sisters. I have two older siblings (about 8 and 6.5 years older) and it described us pretty well.
the whole book is very peaceful and quite somber at times, but it’s a very enjoyable read.
This book genuinely changed my perspective on how I live my life and the relationship that I have with the world around me.
I’ve found it alternatively touching and poetic, and other times a little bit too much and become impatient with it.
She said everything that I have been feeling about the world lately, but in such a beautiful way! I loved this book!
It’s such a fantastic and touching book I love it so much
Can anyone else recommend similar books?
I got a little too tipsy at a wine tasting event over the summer, and gave this book away to a complete stranger. We were having such a nice conversation about plants and the lessons we can learn from them, this book came up, I realized it happened to be in my car, and just handed it over!
The problem was that I hadn’t even finished it myself. But I hope she’s enjoying it, wherever she is now.
There’s a great interview with RWK and Krista Tippett on the On Being podcast! Her voice is so soothing.
Just bought it on your rec, looks wonderful.
I might get downvoted but I found this book absolutely insufferable and full of the most abhorrent naval gazing. I loved Gathering Moss and had great respect for her, but this book shattered it. Sure she has a way with writing prosaically but it’s hard to take seriously someone who betrays the very premise of her own book time and time again.
For someone who relies heavily on their indigenous background to relay a sense of authority on how to have a relationship with nature, there is the unspoken privilege in being someone who lives in upstate New York, as well as extremely revealing moments where she decides to raise a group of ducks, only to completely neglect/abandon them and fantasize about tying meat to them in order to encourage them to be hunted simply because she’s annoyed at the waste they cause which could all have prevented had she done what she as a professor should know to do- research. This selective empathy renders the integrity of her message null and void. I don’t care what cultural background someone is from-don’t preach to others about the importance of revering nature when you *abuse* nature.
Topping this all off is the section where she goes to a mall and decides to start railing against capitalism which I’m all for, but she does this by body shaming teenage girls and shitting on the things they do, which isn’t really fair. I agree with some of her overall message, and that sharing indigenous knowledge is important, but this wasn’t it and I couldn’t even finish.