The instant New York Times bestseller: an inspiring vision of how to reorient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity and community
'This book will nourish your soul, heart, and mind' Anthony Doerr
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.\"
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE AUTUMN BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, GUARDIAN, TIME, OPRAH DAILY, LIT HUB, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, BOOKPAGE
About the Author
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Braiding Sweetgrass- Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants as well as Gathering Moss- A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. Kimmerer is a 2022 MacArthur Fellow. She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.
About the Illustrator
John Burgoyne is a member of the New York Society of Illustrators and an alumnus of Massachusetts College of Art. John has won over 100 awards in the United States and Europe, including from the Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, Hatch Awards, Graphis, Print, One Show, New York Art Directors Club, and Clio.
Industry Reviews
Compelling ... A moving meditation on what a giving tree can teach us about building a fairer society
TIME
A gorgeous meditation on reciprocity and abundance in nature ... a lyrical call to action
Oprah Daily
The time you’ll spend reading this book will, like the time spent picking wild berries, nourish your soul, heart, and mind. I hope to give this book to everybody
Anthony Doerr
A sweet reminder of our interdependence
The New York Times Book Review
An uplifting, open-hearted little book that asks us to reframe our relationships in the world as ones of easy generosity. To be wealthy, explains Robin Wall Kimmerer, is to have enough to share: give all that you have, and take only what you need
Cal Flyn
A masterful reflection on ecology and culture … startling in its simplicity. Kimmerer invites readers to envision a life that embraces the gift economy—one built on reciprocity, collective well-being, and care … Her beautiful and hopeful prose leaves readers feeling sated, galvanized, and keenly aware of the world around them
Kirkus
The Serviceberry is a gem of a book. It invites us to think again about economics, and imagine another way of relating to one another based on generosity, kindness, interconnectedness, and restraint. The book reminds us that how we think, and the stories we tell, shape how we live – and it’s high time we thought and lived differently, with new stories, about our place in nature.
James Rebanks
This wise little book asks us to escape our doomed extractive economy, learning from the cooperative circularity of living systems and the sustainable stewardship of indigenous cultures
Gaia Vince
Robin Wall Kimmerer's call to accommodate ecology and moneyless exchange into our economics is beautiful, radical and true. Her persuasive argument is a gift in itself
Philip Marsden
Lyrical, personable … invites readers into worlds of possibility … this sweet offering builds on Kimmerer’s ideas about the gift economy and how Indigenous wisdom might inform it
Meera Subramanian, Scientific American
At once incredibly simple and incredibly profound - a real gift
Caroline Lucas
A meditation on communing with nature and cultivating connections with one another … Kimmerer makes a convincing argument, wrapped in beautiful language and vivid imagery
Washington Post
The Serviceberry shows us the gift economy in action in rural and in urban settings – it is a source of powerful inspiration, and an essential read. It offers each of us a way to navigate, lovingly and practically, the dark times in which we’re living and in so doing, creating a matrix of healing
Jini Reddy
Kimmerer’s warm, inviting style feels like you are having a conversation as you pick serviceberries… the book offers a good dose of optimism and encouragement, which makes it a lovely read and a potentially transformative one
New Scientist
Vivid and poetic, and also fierce … an elegant distillation of some of Kimmerer’s political ideas
Observer
A wonderful little book which imagines a kinder, sharing world where everybody has enough to eat and nature is respected and cherished
Dave Goulson
Vivid and poetic, and also fierce… An elegant distillation of Kimmerer’s political ideas
Guardian
The Serviceberry builds on the blend of Indigenous and western ecological thought that has made Kimmerer – unexpectedly – one of the best known environmental writers working today … The book is a call to action for ordinary people everywhere
Guardian
It’s a short, tart, powerful book - much like the berry it is named after
Pandora Sykes
