From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world.

As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry's relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth--its abundance of sweet, juicy berries--to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution ensures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.

As Elizabeth Gilbert writes, Robin Wall Kimmerer is a great teacher, and her words are a hymn of love to the world. The Serviceberry is an antidote to the broken relationships and misguided goals of our times, and a reminder that hoarding won't save us, all flourishing is mutual.

Robin Wall Kimmerer is donating her advance payments from this book as a reciprocal gift, back to the land, for land protection, restoration, and justice.

A New York Times 100 Best Books of the 21st Century Readers Pick

#1 New York Times Bestseller

A Washington Post and Los Angeles Times Bestseller

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 two lenses of knowledge together to take 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 (Elizabeth Gilbert).

Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings--asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass--offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of 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 will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.

Robin Wall Kimmerer's book is not an identification guide, nor is it a scientific treatise. Rather, it is a series of linked personal essays that will lead general readers and scientists alike to an understanding of how mosses live and how their lives are intertwined with the lives of countless other beings, from salmon and hummingbirds to redwoods and rednecks. Kimmerer clearly and artfully explains the biology of mosses, while at the same time reflecting on what these fascinating organisms have to teach us.

Drawing on her diverse experiences as a scientist, mother, teacher, and writer of Native American heritage, Kimmerer explains the stories of mosses in scientific terms as well as in the framework of indigenous ways of knowing. In her book, the natural history and cultural relationships of mosses become a powerful metaphor for ways of living in the world.

Gathering Moss will appeal to a wide range of readers, from bryologists to those interested in natural history and the environment, Native Americans, and contemporary nature and science writing.

Drawing from her experiences as an Indigenous scientist, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer demonstrated how all living things--from strawberries and witch hazel to water lilies and lichen--provide us with gifts and lessons every day in her best-selling book Braiding Sweetgrass. Adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith, this new edition reinforces how wider ecological understanding stems from listening to the earth's oldest teachers: the plants around us. With informative sidebars, reflection questions, and art from illustrator Nicole Neidhardt, Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults brings Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the lessons of plant life to a new generation.

Updated with a new introduction from Robin Wall Kimmerer, the special edition of Braiding Sweetgrass, reissued in honor of the fortieth anniversary of Milkweed Editions, celebrates the book as an object of meaning that will last the ages.

Beautifully bound with a new cover featuring an engraving by Tony Drehfal, this edition includes a deckled edge and five brilliantly colored illustrations by artist Nate Christopherson. In increasingly dark times, we honor the experience that more than 350,000 readers in North America have cherished about the book--gentle, simple, tactile, beautiful, even sacred--and offer an edition that will inspire readers to gift it again and again, spreading the word about scientific knowledge, indigenous wisdom, and the teachings of plants.

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 two lenses of knowledge together to take 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 (Elizabeth Gilbert).

Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings--asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass--offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In a rich braid of reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: 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 will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.

MÁS DE 200 SEMANAS CONSECUTIVAS EN EL LISTADO DEL NEW YORK TIMES

Uno de los libros más importantes de nuestros tiempos, que nos invita a descubrir un nuevo lenguaje para comunicarnos con la naturaleza y recibir sus enseñanzas.

Como mujer indígena, Robin Wall Kimmerer es heredera de un valioso legado que considera a los animales y las plantas nuestros mejores maestros. Como botánica, se ha valido del rigor científico para estudiar mejor la naturaleza. Y como madre, profesora y escritora, ha dedicado su vida a conjugar ambas perspectivas para abogar por un despertar de la consciencia ecológica que reconozca y celebre nuestra profunda conexión con otras formas de vida.

En Una trenza de hierba sagrada, la autora entreteje experiencias y saberes en una serie de relatos iluminadores y emotivos que nos inspiran a fortalecer nuestra relación sagrada con la Madre Tierra. Cada capítulo es una magnífica lección de gratitud y reciprocidad, que nos recuerda que, si ofrecemos nuestros dones al mundo y lo ayudamos a sanar, este nos retribuirá con la armonía y el bienestar que tanto anhelamos.

Bestseller del New York Times

Bestseller del Washington Post

Bestseller del Los Angeles Times

Mejor Colección de Ensayos de la Década según Literary Hub

------

A masterpiece of our times, inviting us to discover a new language for communicating with nature and receiving its lessons.

As a Native American woman, Robin Wall Kimmerer is the heir to a valuable legacy that views animals and plants as our greatest and oldest teachers. As a botanist, she leverages scientific knowledge to better understand nature. And as a mother, teacher, and writer, she has dedicated her life to blending these perspectives and advocate for an awakening of ecological consciousness that acknowledges and celebrates our deep connection with other forms of life.

In Braiding Sweetgrass, the author weaves together experiences and knowledge in a series of illuminating and emotional stories that inspire us to reinvigorate our sacred relationship with Mother Earth. Each chapter offers a magnificent lesson in gratitude and reciprocity, reminding us that if we contribute our gifts to the world and help it heal, it will reward us with the harmony and wellness we are yearning for.

A New York Times Bestseller

A Washington Post Bestseller

A Los Angeles Times Bestseller

Named a Best Essay Collection of the Decade by Literary Hub

Drawing from her experiences as an Indigenous scientist, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer demonstrated how all living things--from strawberries and witch hazel to water lilies and lichen--provide us with gifts and lessons every day in her best-selling book Braiding Sweetgrass. Adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith, this new edition reinforces how wider ecological understanding stems from listening to the earth's oldest teachers: the plants around us. With informative sidebars, reflection questions, and art from illustrator Nicole Neidhardt, Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults brings Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the lessons of plant life to a new generation.