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The Serviceberry

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The Serviceberry

Written by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Narrated by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
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About this listen

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 insures 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.”

©2024 Robin Wall Kimmerer (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio
Biological Sciences Social Sciences
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Editorial Review

The Serviceberry could heal us. Will we listen?
Years ago, a friend very appropriately gave me a copy of Lewis Hyde’s classic The Gift. It was one of those thunderbolt-type books that divided my thinking into a before and after, forever changing my outlook on art, commerce, and reciprocity. So it feels like another gift of serendipity to find Robin Wall Kimmerer, botanist and thunderbolt-caster herself ( Braiding Sweetgrass), meditating on similar themes in her new release. Short but incredibly potent, The Serviceberry explores how shifting our perspective on what the market economy calls “natural resources” by more properly understanding them as gifts could transform our broken relationship to the Earth. Drawing on Indigenous practices and wisdom from other scholars and activists, Kimmerer reveals how gratitude and the mutual flow of love and care can move us into a sense of abundance, in turn restoring justice and sustainability to the natural world. This is a beautiful listen, narrated in Kimmerer’s own voice, that I’m abundantly grateful for. — Kat J., Audible Editor

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An excellent read!

Robin Wall Kimmerer’s message and voice provides education, comfort and guidance. “The Serviceberry, Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World”, is the antidote to the catastrophe that will be Trumps second presidential term.

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