Book Review: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Informative, Essential, and Influential

Like most people who read fantasy, non fiction is a genre I usually avoided. I prefer to be emerged in a world that is far from my reality. Fiction is an escape. That being said, it's not just the separation of reality. It's about the adventure of our characters- their rises, falls, backstory, future, and journey. This is what appealed to me so much in this non-fiction novel.

Braiding Sweetgrass is the story of botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer. This is the story of her life navigating the scientific world and fighting for traditional indigenous botany. Science is fact, right? It is, but in some cases, it is also tunnel visioned into the knowledge they have obtained through technology, throwing out tradition and science in abstraction. Throughout this book, we look at science. We look at biology and the challenges Kimmerer faces in a white male dominated world, in a world without color in its study and in its students. This book is very much about the scientific attributes of our world but it is also very much about Kimmerer's life experience with nature through the traditions of indigenous knowledge and community.

This book is beautiful. The mind of Kemmerer is beautiful. Each chapter is a story, a lesson, and a reminder of how much we have lost in our connection to nature. I was completely enthralled in this book. I never knew I could love a non-fiction book so much. Kemmerer is a botanist but also a wonderful story teller. She is one of those people who if met in life, it would be a blessing. She had a way of writing that captures the reader. I wouldn't say she makes you forget that you are reading a non-fiction book because it does still have a weight and enough scientific information in it to keep you rooted in reality. I will say though that her writing and the stories she chose to tell kept me in engaged in a way that I felt truly connected to the messages she was trying to convey. I wasn't lost in scientific jargon (a subject I often felt myself lost on in educational studies).

I learned about farming and ecology. I also learned about how far technology has taken us but how far off we have come from the true connection of nature. I felt lighter while reading it, blown away, and feeling blessed to live in the world where nature is abundant and here for us. I also felt heavier with the knowledge that while nature does a lot for us- I don't do enough for it. It is an experience we all need to go through and be aware of - without the tactics of politics to bid us against the other. Nature has no side. It only expects reciprocation, nurture, and care. Part memoir and part environmental informational, it is a book everyone should read at least once in their lives- even if you are a lover of fiction like myself. And to you readers out there that love tabbing and notation in your books- I had my fair share of that going on in this novel! I could rant and rave about this book for days. In the end, I encourage anyone and everyone to pick this book up when you can.

4.5/5 Stars