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The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
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 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.�
112 pages, Hardcover
First published November 19, 2024
3,314 people are currently reading
57.8k people want to read
About the author
Robin Wall Kimmerer
27Ìýbooks5,799ÌýfollowersDr. 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 - 30 of 3,810 reviews
January 8, 2025
Gift Economy 101�
Preamble:
--It always gives me a great thrill to see talented thinkers/communicators from diverse backgrounds bring their gifts to address today’s escalating global crises; indeed, it’s a responsibility.
--Kimmerer, a Potawatomi botanist who wrote the 2013 best-seller Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, has now brought her indigenous and ecological lenses to also consider how the (social) world works (and fails). Thus, the obvious tools to consider (and challenge!) is in political economy:
i) “politics�: group decision-making, see the foundational video series
ii) “economy�: society’s production/distribution/reproduction: Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works—and How It Fails
--My goal here is to cheer on this direction by highlighting the frameworks and (since it's a very short book) add further connections�
Highlights:
1) Indigenous Animism vs. Colonial Commodification:
--Kimmerer cites anthropology describing indigenous communities where the “currency� is relationships. We can add to this the anthropology on egalitarianism as a group adaptation protecting individual liberties against domination (challenging the myth of equality vs. liberty: Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior) and the centrality of care (Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding).
--In contrast, capitalism colonized such relations with its viral drive to severe us from the web of life, rendering “the environment� as inanimate “natural resources� with no (market) value until it is commodified (privatized/extracted and sold). Long-term communal relations (i.e. community) is colonized into market exchanges, which are instantaneous transactions between strangers (see Graeber’s fabulous Debt: The First 5,000 Years).
--Given the anthropology that every human society can trace back to indigenous relations, we can add that Western Europe’s capitalism didn’t just colonize foreign lands; it had to colonize its own indigenous relations through “primitive accumulationâ€� (the original accumulation birthing capitalism) violently privatizing land/“Commonsâ€� via the “E²Ô³¦±ô´Ç²õ³Ü°ù±ð²õâ€� (creating the land market). The dispossessed lost their connections to land/community and were forced into wage labour in “dark, Satanic millsâ€� (William Blake, 1804) (creating the labour market).
…Communal medieval relations (“golden age of the European proletariat� 1350-1500, age of “feast days�/festivals, anti-feudal/anti-commercial social movements) were crushed and branded as heresies (including targeting women in witch-hunts): Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation
--It only makes sense that such direct and deep everyday “indigenous� relations in the web of life are coded in cultural values of responsibility/gratitude (Kimmerer’s “indigenous world-view�), where our surroundings become animate. We still long for this as we continue to be enchanted by stories; the most obvious being stories featuring magic (ex. The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Babel), which directly reanimates the world around us.
2) Cooperative Abundance vs. Manufactured Scarcity:
--Kimmerer asks: “what is economics, anyway?�. Note: mainstream economics, “the dismal science�, is merely one school (lens) of economic thought, i.e. Neoclassical economics, the one most convenient for capitalists: Economics: The User's Guide.
--Kimmerer notes that scarcity is at the center of Neoclassical economics. Price requires scarcity. Nature provides an abundance of clean air, which is essential for survival (“use-value�) but its abundance means no price can be charged (“exchange-value�, capitalism’s value system). …Until we pollute the air so much that we need to buy clean air. Thus, Kimmerer points out capitalism’s “manufactured scarcity� (artificial scarcity). We can think back to colonization's dispossession of land (modern example: Why Can't You Afford a Home?), rendering people dependent on capitalism’s wage labour/debt. Kimmerer:
--In contrast to manufactured scarcity, Kimmerer considers cooperative abundance through relations in the Commons. For a debunking of the “Tragedy of the Commons� (which conveniently assumes capitalist individualism and no communications), see .
…Kimmerer provides indigenous examples of Commons stewardship: the “Dish With One Spoon� treaty, as well as the general principle of the Honorable Harvest (coding care into the value system):
i) learn about nature’s care-takers, so you can take care of them
ii) introduce yourself, be accountable for your request, ask for permission, abide by the answer
iii) never take the first/last, take only what’s needed/given, never take more than half; leave for others, harvest via minimal harm
iv) use responsibly, never waste, share
v) give thanks, reciprocate care
--Kimmerer’s general examples include care-work (citing Genevieve Vaughan; we can add Folbre’s
The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Values), information Commons (from public libraries to Wikipedia/freeware), and mutual aid (including during crises: A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster). We can also add the greatest contributor to recovering the standard of living which capitalism derailed in “dark, Satanic mills�: public health interventions (esp. sanitation, vaccines, antibiotics, publicly-funded medical research). Public health and other social welfare programs are, in essence, new Commons to push back against colonization’s manufactured scarcity. For the significance of public health in context, see this passage (from Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World) as well as Perilous Passage: Mankind and the Global Ascendancy of Capital
…see comments below for rest of the review�
Preamble:
--It always gives me a great thrill to see talented thinkers/communicators from diverse backgrounds bring their gifts to address today’s escalating global crises; indeed, it’s a responsibility.
--Kimmerer, a Potawatomi botanist who wrote the 2013 best-seller Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, has now brought her indigenous and ecological lenses to also consider how the (social) world works (and fails). Thus, the obvious tools to consider (and challenge!) is in political economy:
i) “politics�: group decision-making, see the foundational video series
ii) “economy�: society’s production/distribution/reproduction: Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works—and How It Fails
--My goal here is to cheer on this direction by highlighting the frameworks and (since it's a very short book) add further connections�
Highlights:
1) Indigenous Animism vs. Colonial Commodification:
--Kimmerer cites anthropology describing indigenous communities where the “currency� is relationships. We can add to this the anthropology on egalitarianism as a group adaptation protecting individual liberties against domination (challenging the myth of equality vs. liberty: Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior) and the centrality of care (Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding).
--In contrast, capitalism colonized such relations with its viral drive to severe us from the web of life, rendering “the environment� as inanimate “natural resources� with no (market) value until it is commodified (privatized/extracted and sold). Long-term communal relations (i.e. community) is colonized into market exchanges, which are instantaneous transactions between strangers (see Graeber’s fabulous Debt: The First 5,000 Years).
--Given the anthropology that every human society can trace back to indigenous relations, we can add that Western Europe’s capitalism didn’t just colonize foreign lands; it had to colonize its own indigenous relations through “primitive accumulationâ€� (the original accumulation birthing capitalism) violently privatizing land/“Commonsâ€� via the “E²Ô³¦±ô´Ç²õ³Ü°ù±ð²õâ€� (creating the land market). The dispossessed lost their connections to land/community and were forced into wage labour in “dark, Satanic millsâ€� (William Blake, 1804) (creating the labour market).
…Communal medieval relations (“golden age of the European proletariat� 1350-1500, age of “feast days�/festivals, anti-feudal/anti-commercial social movements) were crushed and branded as heresies (including targeting women in witch-hunts): Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation
--It only makes sense that such direct and deep everyday “indigenous� relations in the web of life are coded in cultural values of responsibility/gratitude (Kimmerer’s “indigenous world-view�), where our surroundings become animate. We still long for this as we continue to be enchanted by stories; the most obvious being stories featuring magic (ex. The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Babel), which directly reanimates the world around us.
2) Cooperative Abundance vs. Manufactured Scarcity:
--Kimmerer asks: “what is economics, anyway?�. Note: mainstream economics, “the dismal science�, is merely one school (lens) of economic thought, i.e. Neoclassical economics, the one most convenient for capitalists: Economics: The User's Guide.
--Kimmerer notes that scarcity is at the center of Neoclassical economics. Price requires scarcity. Nature provides an abundance of clean air, which is essential for survival (“use-value�) but its abundance means no price can be charged (“exchange-value�, capitalism’s value system). …Until we pollute the air so much that we need to buy clean air. Thus, Kimmerer points out capitalism’s “manufactured scarcity� (artificial scarcity). We can think back to colonization's dispossession of land (modern example: Why Can't You Afford a Home?), rendering people dependent on capitalism’s wage labour/debt. Kimmerer:
[…] because I have not thought much about economics since my introduction to it in high school decades ago, I realized that I had just been accepting the principle of scarcity as if it were a natural fact.…Kimmerer refers to the Algonquian concept of the “W±ð²Ô»å¾±²µ´Çâ€�, the spirit of insatiable cannibalistic hunger. We can connect this to our crisis of addiction/ alienation: The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture
--In contrast to manufactured scarcity, Kimmerer considers cooperative abundance through relations in the Commons. For a debunking of the “Tragedy of the Commons� (which conveniently assumes capitalist individualism and no communications), see .
…Kimmerer provides indigenous examples of Commons stewardship: the “Dish With One Spoon� treaty, as well as the general principle of the Honorable Harvest (coding care into the value system):
i) learn about nature’s care-takers, so you can take care of them
ii) introduce yourself, be accountable for your request, ask for permission, abide by the answer
iii) never take the first/last, take only what’s needed/given, never take more than half; leave for others, harvest via minimal harm
iv) use responsibly, never waste, share
v) give thanks, reciprocate care
--Kimmerer’s general examples include care-work (citing Genevieve Vaughan; we can add Folbre’s
The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Values), information Commons (from public libraries to Wikipedia/freeware), and mutual aid (including during crises: A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster). We can also add the greatest contributor to recovering the standard of living which capitalism derailed in “dark, Satanic mills�: public health interventions (esp. sanitation, vaccines, antibiotics, publicly-funded medical research). Public health and other social welfare programs are, in essence, new Commons to push back against colonization’s manufactured scarcity. For the significance of public health in context, see this passage (from Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World) as well as Perilous Passage: Mankind and the Global Ascendancy of Capital
Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?
[Jonas Salk replying to question of who owns the new polio vaccine]
…see comments below for rest of the review�
October 24, 2024
The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer is a thought-provoking extended essay that explores the gift economy in the natural world. Using the example of a serviceberry tree, which forms a symbiotic relationship with birds, Kimmerer examines how we can foster sharing, generosity, and abundance in human communities. She highlights that, unlike market transactions, the gift economy operates without the expectation of direct compensation, relying instead on trust and mutual care.
Kimmerer draws parallels to systems like public libraries, which thrive alongside market economies by offering communal benefits without profit motives. Through her reflections, she challenges readers to rethink consumption and encourages a more mindful approach to resources—urging us to "harvest honorably" with responsibility, restraint, respect, reverence, and reciprocity.
Kimmerer draws parallels to systems like public libraries, which thrive alongside market economies by offering communal benefits without profit motives. Through her reflections, she challenges readers to rethink consumption and encourages a more mindful approach to resources—urging us to "harvest honorably" with responsibility, restraint, respect, reverence, and reciprocity.
December 13, 2024
Gift economy + communism
April 25, 2025
Goddamn it. I’m going to have to buy this audiobook and use it as comfort blanket when I need to go for a long walk to get away from the world. If I log this more than 20 times this summer, you can reach out to ask if I’m okay.
Read
December 5, 2024This little hardcover, just over 100 pp., seemed to be a nature book á la Annie Dillard, but it's more than that, really. Originally an essay in a magazine, The Serviceberry was expanded to bookish length by Robin Wall Kimmerer, probably due to successfull sales of a previous book of hers, Braiding Sweetgrass (this is how the publishing world chases dollars).
But wait. Kimmerer is donating proceeds to a charity here. Look at the book's subtitle ("Abudance and Reciprocity in the Natural World") and it makes sense. Ostensibly about a plant with many names that gives plentiful berries to humans, birds, and wild mammals alike, this book is really about the giving economy.
One anecdote about a Native American Indian who made a successful hunt for a large animal shows what the term means. A non-Indian asked where the hunter planned to store the plentiful meat, and the Indian replied "In my neighbors' bellies." The whole concept of ownership and freezing for yourself and your own family only is foreign in cultures familiar with a giving economy. It's all about sharing what is plentiful, not hoarding it.
And so it is with the tree, supposedly. Heck, I even bought two from the Arbor Foundation and put them in the ground before it froze. In spring, it flowers white. In fall, its leaves turn brilliant red. And in-between, it'll provide, provide. Berry much.
But wait. Kimmerer is donating proceeds to a charity here. Look at the book's subtitle ("Abudance and Reciprocity in the Natural World") and it makes sense. Ostensibly about a plant with many names that gives plentiful berries to humans, birds, and wild mammals alike, this book is really about the giving economy.
One anecdote about a Native American Indian who made a successful hunt for a large animal shows what the term means. A non-Indian asked where the hunter planned to store the plentiful meat, and the Indian replied "In my neighbors' bellies." The whole concept of ownership and freezing for yourself and your own family only is foreign in cultures familiar with a giving economy. It's all about sharing what is plentiful, not hoarding it.
And so it is with the tree, supposedly. Heck, I even bought two from the Arbor Foundation and put them in the ground before it froze. In spring, it flowers white. In fall, its leaves turn brilliant red. And in-between, it'll provide, provide. Berry much.
October 9, 2024
I thought this book was beautiful. I absolutely loved the message.
It really talks about how we need to focus more on a gift economy. On a give and take relationship and not just a take one. Our world has become so obsessed with money and material items that we have lost respect for our resources. When there is no relationship involved, we take more than we need.
When a neighbor says help yourself to some of the tomatoes in our garden, we would only pick a couple that we needed. But if we saw a random tomato patch in a field, we would clear it out.
If we were gifted a plate by a friend, we would cherish that plate. But if we went and bought it at the store for $10, we wouldn't care so much. Relationships matter.
In today's market economy, we have lost the relationships connected to the items we consume. We have lost respect for our environment.
This book is small but will definitely leave you with a whole new outlook and a lot of things to think about.
I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
It really talks about how we need to focus more on a gift economy. On a give and take relationship and not just a take one. Our world has become so obsessed with money and material items that we have lost respect for our resources. When there is no relationship involved, we take more than we need.
When a neighbor says help yourself to some of the tomatoes in our garden, we would only pick a couple that we needed. But if we saw a random tomato patch in a field, we would clear it out.
If we were gifted a plate by a friend, we would cherish that plate. But if we went and bought it at the store for $10, we wouldn't care so much. Relationships matter.
In today's market economy, we have lost the relationships connected to the items we consume. We have lost respect for our environment.
This book is small but will definitely leave you with a whole new outlook and a lot of things to think about.
I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
November 24, 2024
The Serviceberry is thought-provoking read about embracing a reciprocal, gift economy as often observed in nature, instead of our current one, frequently filled with competition and scarcity.
I appreciate this food for thought and while it’s a welcome idea any time of year, it feels especially timely now as we head into the holiday season.
I appreciate this food for thought and while it’s a welcome idea any time of year, it feels especially timely now as we head into the holiday season.
February 7, 2025
A good message comparing human economies to natural economies, but a bit simplistic, disorganized, rambling, and repetitive. Maybe I'm just too cynical...
December 12, 2024
Robin Wall Kimmerer uses Indigenous wisdom, and her knowledge as a botanist and an ecologist to write about the reciprocity in nature and a gift economy. Photosynthesis and respiration--with the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide--is the ultimate gift exchange in nature. She also uses Serviceberries (Juneberries) as her example of the interconnectedness in nature:
"This pail of Juneberries represents hundreds of gift exchanges that led up to my blue-stained fingers: the Maples who gave their leaves to the soil, the countless invertebrates and microbes who exchanged nutrients and energy to build the humus in which a Serviceberry seed could take root, the Cedar Waxwing who dropped the seed, the sun, the rain, the early spring flies who pollinated the flowers, the farmer who wielded the shovel to tenderly settle the seedlings. They are all parts of the gift exchange by which everyone gets what they need."
Kimmerer compares modern market economics with its supply and demand, and manufactured scarcity with a traditional Indigenous "gift economy" where people share an overabundance of food. She wrote that "anthropologists who study gift economies note that they function well in small, tightly knit communities." However, we could start by sharing extra food or plants from our gardens, donating books to little free libraries, and eating in-season food to minimize our carbon footprint. Unpaid labor like family care and volunteering are also part of a gift economy, and promote a sense of community. Shared green spaces and public libraries are another example. Since most of us don't live in small communities, the modern market economy will still exist, but a gift economy will stretch resources and promote well-being. Sharing a basket of Serviceberries from a garden could be a first step. This lovely slim book also featured nature illustrations by John Burgoyne.
"This pail of Juneberries represents hundreds of gift exchanges that led up to my blue-stained fingers: the Maples who gave their leaves to the soil, the countless invertebrates and microbes who exchanged nutrients and energy to build the humus in which a Serviceberry seed could take root, the Cedar Waxwing who dropped the seed, the sun, the rain, the early spring flies who pollinated the flowers, the farmer who wielded the shovel to tenderly settle the seedlings. They are all parts of the gift exchange by which everyone gets what they need."
Kimmerer compares modern market economics with its supply and demand, and manufactured scarcity with a traditional Indigenous "gift economy" where people share an overabundance of food. She wrote that "anthropologists who study gift economies note that they function well in small, tightly knit communities." However, we could start by sharing extra food or plants from our gardens, donating books to little free libraries, and eating in-season food to minimize our carbon footprint. Unpaid labor like family care and volunteering are also part of a gift economy, and promote a sense of community. Shared green spaces and public libraries are another example. Since most of us don't live in small communities, the modern market economy will still exist, but a gift economy will stretch resources and promote well-being. Sharing a basket of Serviceberries from a garden could be a first step. This lovely slim book also featured nature illustrations by John Burgoyne.
November 19, 2024
This is an anti capitalist essay.
I thought I’d be reading about serviceberries and birds and nature. It started with that but just descended into her ultimate goal of anti capitalism. I feel duped.
Maybe I’ll find what I was looking for with Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan�
I thought I’d be reading about serviceberries and birds and nature. It started with that but just descended into her ultimate goal of anti capitalism. I feel duped.
Maybe I’ll find what I was looking for with Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan�
November 26, 2024
This tiny little book offers so much wisdom. Just like when I read BRAIDING SWEETGRASS, upon finishing this one, I can’t help but think of what a better place the world would be if more people thought, acted, and cared like Robin Wall Kimmerer.
November 21, 2024
Like many other I readers I was very impressed with Kimmerer’s last book Braiding Sweetgrass, so I had been looking forward to her next book. For me, it didn’t reach those heights. It felt more dry and repetitive, despite it’s short length. Her writing is still solid and she made interesting points about a giving economy versus a market economy, using the serviceberry tree as the centerpiece. She explains that “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.â€� These concepts are interesting but not enough to completely engage me. Once again the illustrations by John BurgoyneÌýare beautiful.
April 7, 2025
This slim volume meditates on gift economies verses extractive capitalism, through the lens of the serviceberry, an abundant sweet berry bush or tree native to the north and eastern third of what we are currently calling the United States. I have never encountered this plant in the wild but I would like to! As always, Kimmerer writes with a gentle compassionate wisdom about how we could live more kindly and lightly and communally on this earth. She invites the reader to think about where gift economies exist in their own lives, and my mind immediately went to fandom and the gift economy of ao3 and podfic; to friends doing clothing swaps, to carpooling, and little free libraries. I want to keep this awareness awake and think about where I can nurture gift economies in my own life.
September 28, 2024
We live in a time when every choice matters. The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer
“When an economic system actively destroys what we love, isn’t it time for a different system?� Robin Wall Kimmerer asks us in The Serviceberry. She contrasts the Indigenous idea of a gift economy, where one views abundance as a gift to be shared, to the market economy that allows wealth to be privately held by a few.
Her illustration is the native serviceberry tree, whose berries were a staple that Native Americans used in pemmican. “Imagine a fruit that tastes like a Blueberry crossed with the satisfying heft of an Apple, a touch of rosewater, and a minuscule crunch of almond-flavored seeds.� Birds and animals rely on the berries.
She tells of a woman whose Serviceberry trees were so productive, she gave the berries away, an example of a gift economy where wone with an abundance shares with others. She references public libraries as another example of a gift economy, for the books belong to everyone.
Take only what you need, what is given. Never take over half or waste what you have been given. This teaching is contrary to a market economy focusing on buying more, waste actually a positive: buy cheap, toss, buy more, keep the factories going.
I participate on a social media site for our city where we give stuff away. People get what they need, and items are recycled and not trashed. A few years back, our apple trees were so productive we couldn’t keep up. We made applesauce and apple butter and froze them and baked. We have away boxes of apples. Our two mile square city has a half dozen Little Free Libraries. My weekly quilt group brings fabric and patterns and supplies to give away on the ‘free table� and we often share quilts we entirely made with fabric found there.
People do want to share.
It will take a revolution, or worse, to change the market economy. But we can each personally choose to live with gratitude, sharing what we have.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.
“When an economic system actively destroys what we love, isn’t it time for a different system?� Robin Wall Kimmerer asks us in The Serviceberry. She contrasts the Indigenous idea of a gift economy, where one views abundance as a gift to be shared, to the market economy that allows wealth to be privately held by a few.
Her illustration is the native serviceberry tree, whose berries were a staple that Native Americans used in pemmican. “Imagine a fruit that tastes like a Blueberry crossed with the satisfying heft of an Apple, a touch of rosewater, and a minuscule crunch of almond-flavored seeds.� Birds and animals rely on the berries.
She tells of a woman whose Serviceberry trees were so productive, she gave the berries away, an example of a gift economy where wone with an abundance shares with others. She references public libraries as another example of a gift economy, for the books belong to everyone.
Take only what you need, what is given. Never take over half or waste what you have been given. This teaching is contrary to a market economy focusing on buying more, waste actually a positive: buy cheap, toss, buy more, keep the factories going.
I participate on a social media site for our city where we give stuff away. People get what they need, and items are recycled and not trashed. A few years back, our apple trees were so productive we couldn’t keep up. We made applesauce and apple butter and froze them and baked. We have away boxes of apples. Our two mile square city has a half dozen Little Free Libraries. My weekly quilt group brings fabric and patterns and supplies to give away on the ‘free table� and we often share quilts we entirely made with fabric found there.
People do want to share.
It will take a revolution, or worse, to change the market economy. But we can each personally choose to live with gratitude, sharing what we have.
Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.
February 1, 2025
Supporting a thriving bird community is essential for the well-being for the Serviceberry and everyone else up and down the food chain. That seems especially important to an immobile, long-lived being like a tree, who can't run away from ruptured relationships. Thriving is possible only if you nurtured strong bonds with your community.
When I began reading this book, I thought it pertained more to plant growing, the serviceberry (Amelanchier) in particular. I'd like my husband and I to grow an Allegheny serviceberry for our local birds. Instead, the serviceberry is a symbol for Kimmerer's concept of growing a gift economy on an individual and community scale.
She lays out her ideals for a gift economy to thrive and I like her ideas. I think we all can think of ways to give, share, and receive from others in order to build better relationships and communities.
A listing of her ideas from pages 64-65:
"Know the ways of ones who take care of you, so that you can take care of them."
"Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for a life."
"Ask permission before taking. Abide by the answer."
"Never take the first one. Never take the last."
"Take only what you need."
"Take only that which is given."
"Never take more than half. Leave some for others."
"Harvest in a way that minimizes harm."
"Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken."
"Share."
"Give thanks for what you have been given."
"Give a gift in reciprocity for what you have taken."
"Sustain the ones who sustain you and the Earth will last forever."
January 12, 2025
A very interesting and eye-opening look at how our economy works, as opposed to the more give and share economy ("gift" economy) of the indigenous tribes. The author centers this long essay around the serviceberry bush (which now I have to find and try!) and how it can teach us to live in tandem with nature in a way that does not exploit it to its eventual demise.
I loved her comment that plants offer themselves to us, whether we are saints or sinners.
And the idea that gift economies often rise up during times of crises, as we can see right now in California with all the donations and volunteerism springing up.
Would that humans lived this way in times of noncrisis.
I loved her comment that plants offer themselves to us, whether we are saints or sinners.
And the idea that gift economies often rise up during times of crises, as we can see right now in California with all the donations and volunteerism springing up.
Would that humans lived this way in times of noncrisis.
February 2, 2025
I hold Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass in high regard, and maybe I was expecting something of that caliber while anticipating this new work.
The Serviceberry is a lovely little book. I was surprised by how small it is. On its cover there's an illustration of one of my favorite birds, a Cedar Waxwing. It has eye-pleasing fine line drawings inside.
But the writing felt like more of a campaign than a book. A campaign for a Gift Economy, which is what the serviceberry represents. It's kindof a meshing of ecology and economy.
(Given a quick re-scan, variations of the word 'economy' are used roughly 165 times in these few petite pages!)
I'm on board with the message.
I'm too-often the most non-consumer human in any room. I'd love to be less alone in that. Cycling of resources and Enoughness is my discipline, my lifestyle, my peace and joy. So yeah, I like the message. But it read a bit too much like a thesis or persuasive essay for my total enjoyment.
I appreciate the part about "a culture of gratitude," and that I'm reading this with Thanksgiving just a few days away. My family prepares wild turkey and/or other wild harvested game for Thanksgiving. We'll eat squash that grew free in my garden. We'll flavor it with maple syrup we tapped and boiled thick from the maple trees in our woods. Thanksgiving, for us, is a true celebration of harvest and a year-round lifestyle of gratitude, Nature, and reciprocity.
I prefer reading about those kinds of things more than market economy, commodity, and capitalism. This book is technically about the former, but its laden with talk of the latter.
I probably wasn't in the mood today for a book about economic world views.
I was in the mood for serviceberries and cedar waxwings.
But it's a worthwhile message that will hopefully inform or inspire thought and change in more people.
---------�-----------------
"All Flourishing Is Mutual."
"Recognizing "enoughness" is a radical act in an economy that is always urging us to consume more."
"We live in a time when every choice matters."
The Serviceberry is a lovely little book. I was surprised by how small it is. On its cover there's an illustration of one of my favorite birds, a Cedar Waxwing. It has eye-pleasing fine line drawings inside.
But the writing felt like more of a campaign than a book. A campaign for a Gift Economy, which is what the serviceberry represents. It's kindof a meshing of ecology and economy.
(Given a quick re-scan, variations of the word 'economy' are used roughly 165 times in these few petite pages!)
I'm on board with the message.
I'm too-often the most non-consumer human in any room. I'd love to be less alone in that. Cycling of resources and Enoughness is my discipline, my lifestyle, my peace and joy. So yeah, I like the message. But it read a bit too much like a thesis or persuasive essay for my total enjoyment.
I appreciate the part about "a culture of gratitude," and that I'm reading this with Thanksgiving just a few days away. My family prepares wild turkey and/or other wild harvested game for Thanksgiving. We'll eat squash that grew free in my garden. We'll flavor it with maple syrup we tapped and boiled thick from the maple trees in our woods. Thanksgiving, for us, is a true celebration of harvest and a year-round lifestyle of gratitude, Nature, and reciprocity.
I prefer reading about those kinds of things more than market economy, commodity, and capitalism. This book is technically about the former, but its laden with talk of the latter.
I probably wasn't in the mood today for a book about economic world views.
I was in the mood for serviceberries and cedar waxwings.
But it's a worthwhile message that will hopefully inform or inspire thought and change in more people.
---------�-----------------
"All Flourishing Is Mutual."
"Recognizing "enoughness" is a radical act in an economy that is always urging us to consume more."
"We live in a time when every choice matters."
February 20, 2025
If you haven’t read , you definitely should. This short piece covers many of the same ideas in a less satisfying way. It’s really more an essay than a book, stretched out to 105 pages through generous spacing, illustrations, and very small pages. And the essay is more meditation than either argument or call to action. Some interesting ideas here about applying ecological thinking to the economy, pointing out how prevailing economic models are largely fictional and also depend on eyebrow-raising principles, such as the assumption of scarcity. Food does not in fact need to be scarce—there’s enough for everyone, it just isn’t fairly distributed.
However, as an argument it is weakened by citing no sources beyond a few personal interviews, and as an inspirational envisioning of a different system it falls short by not going far enough. Kimmerer points out ways that very local transactions often do depend on sharing, gifts and reciprocity and suggests that local communities do more of this, but acknowledges this can only take us so far and then leaves it at that. If we’re just playing in the realm of imagination here, can’t we be a little bolder? It’s all so vague and general, and then it is soon over.
However, as an argument it is weakened by citing no sources beyond a few personal interviews, and as an inspirational envisioning of a different system it falls short by not going far enough. Kimmerer points out ways that very local transactions often do depend on sharing, gifts and reciprocity and suggests that local communities do more of this, but acknowledges this can only take us so far and then leaves it at that. If we’re just playing in the realm of imagination here, can’t we be a little bolder? It’s all so vague and general, and then it is soon over.
November 24, 2024
This is a beautiful book. It gives voice to a lot of my feelings and personal opinions. Especially around gratitude and abundance and what the author refers to as a gift economy, which I love as an expression. When she described the “recognition of indebtedness that can stop you in your tracks� I knew exactly what she meant. I have felt that when I’m outside and surrounded by nature. Really appreciate this book and the ideas and sentiments it conveys. Brought me some hope at a time when I’m very worried about what lies ahead for the next four years.
March 4, 2025
So hopeful, though a smidge naive.
The Serviceberry was a wonderful morsel to learn about gift economies, and alternative ways of operating in a society.
I was left wishing for more. Perhaps in the future Wall Kimmerer will expand upon this topic in a longer, more developed work?
The Serviceberry was a wonderful morsel to learn about gift economies, and alternative ways of operating in a society.
I was left wishing for more. Perhaps in the future Wall Kimmerer will expand upon this topic in a longer, more developed work?
November 9, 2024
A beautiful & comforting reminder of how we can take care of each other
December 3, 2024
she crushes again
December 2, 2024
The title and beautiful cover artwork attracted me to this small book at an independent bookstore in Frisco, CO. We have two serviceberry trees in our yard and so I have observed firsthand how its berries feed so many robins and cedar waxwings and other animals each summer. It is truly an abundance shared. And in return, the birds and animals spread the tree's seeds. Reciprocity! The tree is also beautiful in a landscape design because of its white flowers in spring and colorful leaves in fall. It's truly a giving tree.
In this essay, Robin Wall Kimmerer compares the abundance of nature that is freely given, a sort of 'gift economy,' to how humans conduct their own 'economy,' which is frequently based on scarcity, hoarding and wasteful use of natural resources.
Ms Kimmerer is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and weaves the wisdom of Indigenous People and their close relationship with the plant world into her writing. She quotes a fellow tribal member who wrote, "If the economy requires people to consume more resources than the Earth can replenish, just to keep the whole thing from collapsing, isn't it time for a new economy?"
Some examples of a 'gift economy' would be the Little Free Library we all see in our neighborhoods where people share books. Or how we give away that summer abundance of zucchini and tomatoes from our gardens to our friends and neighbors. Or volunteer our time, or share our talents, or donate clothing, or stock food pantries. This is the currency of reciprocity.
A remarkable little book, enhanced by the beautiful illustrations of John Burgoyne, and giving each of us much food for thought.
In this essay, Robin Wall Kimmerer compares the abundance of nature that is freely given, a sort of 'gift economy,' to how humans conduct their own 'economy,' which is frequently based on scarcity, hoarding and wasteful use of natural resources.
Ms Kimmerer is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and weaves the wisdom of Indigenous People and their close relationship with the plant world into her writing. She quotes a fellow tribal member who wrote, "If the economy requires people to consume more resources than the Earth can replenish, just to keep the whole thing from collapsing, isn't it time for a new economy?"
Some examples of a 'gift economy' would be the Little Free Library we all see in our neighborhoods where people share books. Or how we give away that summer abundance of zucchini and tomatoes from our gardens to our friends and neighbors. Or volunteer our time, or share our talents, or donate clothing, or stock food pantries. This is the currency of reciprocity.
A remarkable little book, enhanced by the beautiful illustrations of John Burgoyne, and giving each of us much food for thought.
December 4, 2024
So many have loved this book, but I am not a fan. It was so repetitive and could easily have been a long essay. Perhaps gifted on the internet for free? Instead it is long enough to be a short book and sold in our capitalist system.
Needless to say, I feel the author’s idea of a gift economy to be unrealistic, impractical, simplistic and something she herself has not done in this instance.
Needless to say, I feel the author’s idea of a gift economy to be unrealistic, impractical, simplistic and something she herself has not done in this instance.
July 25, 2024
Thank you to Scribner and Simon and Schuster for providing this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer guides us, once again, as we pause and reflect on the beauty and gift of life that is given to us each day. She explains to us, or rather reminds us of our responsibility of gratitude to the earth and how our daily choices impact our reciprocity. She dives into the merits of the reciprocal gift economy and explores the trickling effect it has within ourselves and our communities.
An inspiring essay on the ‘Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World�, The Serviceberry should be essential reading for anyone who is wanting to reconnect with the natural world and honor all that continues to sustain life.
The Serviceberry is scheduled to publish November 19th, 2024 and I encourage everyone to preorder or request a copy from your local library.
Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer guides us, once again, as we pause and reflect on the beauty and gift of life that is given to us each day. She explains to us, or rather reminds us of our responsibility of gratitude to the earth and how our daily choices impact our reciprocity. She dives into the merits of the reciprocal gift economy and explores the trickling effect it has within ourselves and our communities.
An inspiring essay on the ‘Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World�, The Serviceberry should be essential reading for anyone who is wanting to reconnect with the natural world and honor all that continues to sustain life.
The Serviceberry is scheduled to publish November 19th, 2024 and I encourage everyone to preorder or request a copy from your local library.
December 9, 2024
A view through rose colored glasses of how we should become a gift economy which is wonderful in theory. In practice, most of the people in my small town are generous and sharing, but I don’t know anyone who can produce enough to sustain themselves or a community. I agree it would be marvelous but to target one person “Darren� as an example of the root of all evil is just unfair. The book does attempt to invite everyone to appreciate and engage in more sharing of whatever wealth you may have in whatever form.
December 10, 2024
Thought provoking and full of wisdom, with charming illustrations. This slim contemplative book would make an excellent Christmas present for that hard-to-shop-for friend or relative.
April 5, 2025
The Serviceberry delivers a beautiful fusion of personal experience, Indigenous knowledge, and ecological science that resonates on multiple levels. Through the lens of the Amelanchier spp., Robin Wall Kimmerer illustrates profound lessons about resilience, interdependence, and the cycles of nature.
"The serviceberry teaches us about the cycles of life and the interdependence of species" is a sentiment that underscores our intrinsic connection to the natural world. Her vivid imagery, especially when she describes the blooms as "a bride adorned in white," invites us to reflect on our own encounters with nature's beauty and the warmth of communal experiences.
Kimmerer has a remarkable ability to combine spirituality and science in a way that feels both satisfying and emotionally nourishing in every way.
While her personal stories are evocative and engaging, I found myself wishing for more concrete guidance on how to incorporate these teachings into everyday life. However, Kimmerer's reflections serve as a gentle nudge toward fostering a reciprocal relationship with the environment.
Though The Serviceberry is short and somewhat repetitive in parts, it is a must-read for anyone looking to cultivate a greater sense of stewardship in their lives.
"Give thanks for what you have been given. Give a gift in reciprocity for what you have taken. Sustain the ones who sustain you and the Earth will last forever."
"The serviceberry teaches us about the cycles of life and the interdependence of species" is a sentiment that underscores our intrinsic connection to the natural world. Her vivid imagery, especially when she describes the blooms as "a bride adorned in white," invites us to reflect on our own encounters with nature's beauty and the warmth of communal experiences.
Kimmerer has a remarkable ability to combine spirituality and science in a way that feels both satisfying and emotionally nourishing in every way.
While her personal stories are evocative and engaging, I found myself wishing for more concrete guidance on how to incorporate these teachings into everyday life. However, Kimmerer's reflections serve as a gentle nudge toward fostering a reciprocal relationship with the environment.
Though The Serviceberry is short and somewhat repetitive in parts, it is a must-read for anyone looking to cultivate a greater sense of stewardship in their lives.
"Give thanks for what you have been given. Give a gift in reciprocity for what you have taken. Sustain the ones who sustain you and the Earth will last forever."
January 7, 2025
Invited by her neighbor to collect berries from her serviceberry plants, Robin is amazed at the abundance of fruits that are free for picking by humans or any other animals, which gives her reasons to think about her indigenous ancestors' traditions of sharing and/or feasting together and/or using what nature provides as much as necessary, not more, just enough. This example is also seen in nature, where a being will use what's enough for survival. In the serviceberry way, there is a circle of things happening, because while a bird might feast on its fruits, it will take its seeds in the bellies and spread them in distant places, allowing them to bloom elsewhere.
Our current economic system has as its main principle scarcity, thus the mindset that follows is based on the commodification of goods and services, and of accumulation. On the other hand, in the gift economy, instead of creating scarcity, we choose to use the abundance of gifts freely given by the Earth, thus generating relationships of goodwill and bonds.
I was glad that she brought up Dr. Elinor Ostrom, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for her analysis of economic governance, demonstrating how common property could be successfully managed by groups that use it, contradicting in some way Garrett Hardin's “Tragedy of the Commons� theory, which has as its main argument that each person will take more for themselves, which ends up generating scarcity.
Although I don't have the intellectual resources necessary to delve deeper into what Robin wrote, I think it is a work that brings interesting reflections if we really want to do the least to change the dangerous paths we are taking.
Our current economic system has as its main principle scarcity, thus the mindset that follows is based on the commodification of goods and services, and of accumulation. On the other hand, in the gift economy, instead of creating scarcity, we choose to use the abundance of gifts freely given by the Earth, thus generating relationships of goodwill and bonds.
I was glad that she brought up Dr. Elinor Ostrom, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for her analysis of economic governance, demonstrating how common property could be successfully managed by groups that use it, contradicting in some way Garrett Hardin's “Tragedy of the Commons� theory, which has as its main argument that each person will take more for themselves, which ends up generating scarcity.
Although I don't have the intellectual resources necessary to delve deeper into what Robin wrote, I think it is a work that brings interesting reflections if we really want to do the least to change the dangerous paths we are taking.
January 21, 2025
This really isn't a book, but I don't mind the steep price tag* because RWK says she is donating all author proceeds to land trusts (or something like that). What is it? A 128 page rallying cry to commit yourself to what she calls a "gift economy". This is a considered philosophy of not taking more than you need, realizing that the world is one bowl with many spoons, and that everything is intertwined (and we humans are really f-kg it up).
(*TBH I listened on Spotify Premium, where a lot of people don't know they have access to audiobooks.)
This philosophy was carefully developed in Braiding Sweetgrass - but here RWK is more urgent and bullet-pointed. She's suggesting a political movement. You may think RWK sounds like a goodie two shoes - but give her a chance and you see that she could, with a smile, contend with any Economics Nobel Laureate. It all resonates with me: buy (almost) nothing, share, realize that if trees die, life dies, do your best. RWK is guardedly optimistic, we need to try.
Of course I would recommend reading Braiding Sweetgrass, where the flow eventually overtakes your cynicism and you buy in, and is a 5-star experience.
(*TBH I listened on Spotify Premium, where a lot of people don't know they have access to audiobooks.)
This philosophy was carefully developed in Braiding Sweetgrass - but here RWK is more urgent and bullet-pointed. She's suggesting a political movement. You may think RWK sounds like a goodie two shoes - but give her a chance and you see that she could, with a smile, contend with any Economics Nobel Laureate. It all resonates with me: buy (almost) nothing, share, realize that if trees die, life dies, do your best. RWK is guardedly optimistic, we need to try.
Of course I would recommend reading Braiding Sweetgrass, where the flow eventually overtakes your cynicism and you buy in, and is a 5-star experience.
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