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The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Nonfiction (2025)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 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 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, rather than accumulation, where wealth and security come 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.”
As Indigenous scientist 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 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, rather than accumulation, where wealth and security come 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.”
112 pages, Hardcover
First published November 19, 2024
About the author
Robin Wall Kimmerer
35 books7,477 followersDr. Robin Wall Kimmerer (also credited as Robin W. Kimmerer) (born 1953) is Associate Professor of Environmental and Forest Biology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF). She is the author of numerous scientific articles, and the book Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. She is Potawatomi and combines her heritage with her scientific and environmental passions.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 22, 2025
útla, múdra a krásna!
filozofia ekonómie daru, vzájomnosti a spolupatričnosti.
"Nazvať svet darom znamená pocítiť svoju príslušnosť v sieti vzájomnosti. Robí nás to šťastnými a zodpovednými. Keď veci vnímame ako dar, náš vzťah k nim sa zásadne zmení, hoci ich fyzická podstata zostane rovnaká."
filozofia ekonómie daru, vzájomnosti a spolupatričnosti.
"Nazvať svet darom znamená pocítiť svoju príslušnosť v sieti vzájomnosti. Robí nás to šťastnými a zodpovednými. Keď veci vnímame ako dar, náš vzťah k nim sa zásadne zmení, hoci ich fyzická podstata zostane rovnaká."
April 17, 2026
Jarné rozjímanie o prírode a jej daroch. Po presocializovaných sviatkoch mi takéto pokojné popoludnie v lese padlo veľmi vhod. Medzi prerasteným medvedím cesnakom ma čakali pľúcniky a ja som sa dokonale spomalil pri čaji a tejto peknej knihe Strom Serviceberry. Tá v sebe ukrýva omnoho viac než len priblíženie sa k Muchovníkom.
Autorka sa v nej ponára do psychoekologických rovín o kultúre vďačnosti a ekonomike daru. Tieto tézy predostiera ako prevencie voči hromadeniu a nadspotrebe prírody a najmä ako možné cesty k udržateľnosti Zeme.
Podnetné, krásne a mohlo by byť aj dlhšie a esejisticky viac rozvinuté.
4,5*
Autorka sa v nej ponára do psychoekologických rovín o kultúre vďačnosti a ekonomike daru. Tieto tézy predostiera ako prevencie voči hromadeniu a nadspotrebe prírody a najmä ako možné cesty k udržateľnosti Zeme.
Podnetné, krásne a mohlo by byť aj dlhšie a esejisticky viac rozvinuté.
4,5*
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews