43. Braiding Sweetgrass

Braiding Sweetgrass. Robin Wall Kimmerer. 2013.

I absolutely love this book--which is a series of reflective essays that read more like extended poems.  Read by the author (something I usually do not like), the words are mesmerizing, the sentences beautiful.  Each chapter is a woven metaphor, a life lesson, but not in a trite way. Each story feels genuine. The author, a botanist, tells stories about plants and ecosystems that are equally about parenting, working, and friendship.  Being an indigenous woman scientist in an academic culture that does not value, let alone understand, what that could mean for science, she tells painful stories about this. I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, but the stories say something new, something different from the typical STEM isn't an inclusive place for women of color.  Her stories of indigenous heritage, too, feel genuine and I loved the complexity of how she didn't shy away from racism and oppression, but rather found ways to talk about this in the context of traditions and natural science.  And she seriously did this while writing in a poetic prose.  

I have so many favorite parts, but one example that I loved of how she melds science and not science (for lack of a better term) is when talking about gardening and how you can tend a garden with science (testing and changing the chemical balance of the soil, studying the seeds, and collecting data) or you can tend a garden with love (just tending things by watching and responding with your intuition). They are just lovely concepts, brilliantly written. I think this has been my favorite book all year.

Generally, when I read, I will pick up and put down a story without much thought to a breaking point.  Five minutes in the car on the way to work, 15 minutes while folding laundry, 3 minutes while I am waiting for someone...it doesn't bother me to stop or start in the middle of a sentence, let alone a chapter.  But, there was something about the way these stories were written that I really wanted to read to the end and then pause to think about it before moving on.  It was an unusual experience for me and quite delightful.
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Highly, highly recommend.

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