This book was superb. Once more Kimmerer has done it! It's short, sweet, and promotes kindness, generosity, and a reflection on what true abundance looks like. I wrote a whole blog post review I will link below. I'm planning to incorporate this review in a video format on booktube as well.

I would read anything by Robin Wall Kimmerer. This book was little, but packed a mighty punch. Framed around the Serviceberry, Robin examines our current ecological economy and the gift economy that natural habitats employ. How can we be do better for the earth and each other? How can we learn from nature when it comes to the give and take of everyday existence? There were some fantastic lessons to be learned in this book.
4.5 stars, rounded up!

I have been a fan of Robin Wall Kimmerer's work for quite some time, and The Serviceberry did not disappoint! This book does a phenomenal job in looking at natural economies and species like the serviceberry to imagine new ways of living. Robin Wall Kimmerer draws on current practices of gift economies and mutual aid to provide hope and paint new paths forward to resist the market economy in capitalist society.

I really loved Robin Wall Kimmerer’s first book, Braiding Sweetgrass, and the inspiring messages it imparted: respect for the planet, gratitude for our daily gifts, patience in listening to the teachings from our plants and animals. The book was a collection of essays and each essay revealed one of these themes or teachings in a subtle and effective way.

Serviceberry offers up many of the same lessons and messages but zeros in on the gift economy and the idea that reciprocity and generosity are the economic ideals we should exclusively abide by. While this message is important it is presented in a more commanding way in this book than the more subtle format of Braiding Sweetgrass. It is strict and stern in tone and it did not resonate with me as deeply as the more gently guiding essay format of Braiding Sweetgrass.

This book is very short, at only 128 pages, and given its publication timing it struck me as a bit of a ploy to sell more books during this gifting season, and on the coattails of the popularity of Braiding Sweetgrass. The book did not deliver anything different or unique from Braiding Sweetgrass, it is just a more succinct and didactic vehicle. I therefore felt that this book was sort of going against its own message of being mindful about what you put out in the world. While the “advance payments” from this book are being donated by the author back to “the land”, I couldn’t help but feel this book was a bit disingenuous in nature.

I absolutely loved Braiding Sweetgrass, so I knew that this would be amazing too. This was originally a published essay, however RWK wanted to expand on it and turned it into this short story of sorts.

It has sections and stunning visuals, so it’s a very quick read, but so so profound. In such few pages, she has penned such powerful theory about reciprocity and economic systems.

I highlighted the heck out of this one because there are just so many incredible thoughts and feelings about how care and giving could transform and better our world.

I recently taught my grade 2/3s about land acknowledgments and they all wrote one, and it was so amazing to see that even at their age, they can see these gifts that RWK talks about.

Overall, even though Serviceberry is short, it doesn’t feel rushed or basic at all. In fact, I could read this 3 more times today and get something new from it each time I think. I highly highly recommend this one.

Nonfiction | Adult
[Cover image]
You know that strategy of sneaking vegetables into casseroles or desserts to get kids to eat them more? Robin Wall Kimmerer is drawing on that trick in her latest call for us to rethink our relationship with the natural world. This little book (it’s just over 100 pages) is an expansion of an essay of the same name first published in Emergence Magazine. My favourite line? “Recognizing “enoughness” is a radical act in an economy that is always urging us to consume more.” Kimmerer starts by lauding the serviceberry (known here in Western Canada as a saskatoon) as an example of the beautiful gifts the Earth gives us. She starts out so gently and slowly I was grumbling a bit, and then wham! She openly asks us to question our current economic model that encourages people to “purchase things we don’t really need while destroying what we do [italics are mine].” Ain’t that the truth. Overconsumption, unequal wealth, a climate crisis, and a focus on individualism that is costing us our physical and mental health and denying us potential communal relationships. To illustrate the idiocy of our actions, she points to water, another true gift of Earth, as something priced higher and higher as fresh clean water is increasingly scarce, thanks to our own destructive actions. This is a short but impactful essay calling for careful disruption of the model, by rejecting overconsumption, giving away rather than hoarding, and focusing on the common good rather than individual needs alone. When we have enough, we don’t need more. That’s how more of us can actually have enough. A simple idea that is so hard for people to understand. John Burgoyne’s sweet pencil illustrations give you a place to linger and ponder what you’ve read, and make this little book even more suitable as a gift. My thanks to Simon and Shuster Canada for the advance reading copy provided digitally through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Grand Forks (B.C.) & District Public Library already has a copy on order, so local pals can add their names to the request list now.
More discussion and reviews of this title: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/208840291

This long-form essay expands upon Kimmerer’s previous work, using the serviceberry to teach about thoughtful human interactions with each other and the natural environment.

Kimmerer’s 2013 book Braiding Sweetgrass was a transformative reading experience. I was captivated by her ability to tell stories to teach about reciprocity, kindness and respect for the earth through the lens of Indigenous values. I recommend it to everyone! The Serviceberry is essentially an essay that speaks to similar themes, and was the perfect follow-up to her book. I enjoyed this so much. I loved the pencil illustrations by John Burgoyne, which added a beautiful visual flourish to the text.

A few memorable concepts that I took:

-The idea of “enoughness,” where showing gratitude for what is given promotes a sense of abundance in the face of a system that is always pushing us to consume more and more.

-After gratitude comes reciprocity, giving gifts in return for what is given freely to us.

-Discussion around modern economics that commoditizes things and creates a sense of scarcity and thus a perceived need to accumulate. She draws a distinction between real, shared scarcity (eg. drought) vs manufactured scarcity.

-In a gift economy, “wealth” is the ability to have enough to share.

-Little Free Libraries are an example of sharing economies! Public libraries come close.

-She revisits the tenets of the Honorable Harvest, which are always worth a close read.

She finishes with some practical approaches to promote incremental change towards regenerative economies, providing a hopeful outlook. It’s hard to fight the despair that can happen when trying to change in the face of well-established economic systems.

Kimmerer donated her advance payment for the book as a reciprocal gift for “land protection, restoration, and justice in support of healing land and people.” Readers are also invited to give back in their own way, however possible. What a beautiful message.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada and Netgalley for a gifted copy for review.

I am so grateful to have received this ARC in exchange for a review. Reciprocity in the book world 😉

5 stars ⭐️

I am a huge fan of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s writing. She expresses such lucid analogies that just make complete sense of the current state of the world and commodification. This book offers a different perspective of economics that I can grasp and get behind. Gift giving really is about recognizing our own ‘enoughness’ and abundance, and generating sufficiency for all. I love the example of The Free Little Library movement. As a giver and receiver of them, I recognize the handcrafted boxes are provided as gifts to be able to share books in the community. Books are common goods that can be shared with many to enjoy and experience. There are also many ‘system’ parallels to the natural world and how we have much to learn on how we can better organize ourselves in order to enhance our lives.

I took time to read this short book as there’s so much knowledge and wisdom within its pages in addition to its beautiful illustrations. 🌿🫐

The Serviceberry will be release on Nov. 19, 2024. It’s already been recognized as one of Indigo’s top ten books of the year.

Title: The Serviceberry: Abdundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
Author: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Genre: Non Fiction
Rating: 4.00
Pub Date: November 19, 2004

I received a complimentary eARC from Simon & Schuster Canada via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. #Gifted

T H R E E • W O R D S

Intuitive • Poetic • Thoughtful

📖 S Y N O P S I S

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.

💭 T H O U G H T S

When I first read Braiding Sweetgrass, I felt a deep internal connection to Robin's words and ideas. I have come back to the book time and time again for guidance and insight. So when I learned she'd be publishing a new book, The Serviceberry in 2024, it was an easy add to my anticipated releases list. I ended up choosing it as my November pick for my own personal BOTM project and went in knowing very little about what I'd be getting.

A quick read delivered in essay format with beautiful artwork dividing the various sections, this was a deeply thoughtful little book. She puts forth the idea of gift economies as a remedy for our current situation of overabundance. She shares various examples of gift economies and who it is the relationships that bring value to keeping the economy going. At times, I felt like I was working alongside the author as she contemplated this type of economy as it does read like a stream of consciousness.

The Serviceberry challenges the current human way and puts forth a call for action in a insightful manner. It suggests stepping outside of the traditional way of doing things and into a world where sharing what we have is the norm. I appreciated her beautiful writing and the way she uses the serviceberry as a ground work for what she's trying to say. I will continue to read anything Robin Wall Kimmerer writes

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• the natural world
• new ideas
• challenging the status quo

⚠️ CW: colonization

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"A reminder that hoarding won't save us, all flourishing is mutual."

"An investment in community always comes back to you in some way."

A perfect choice for Nonfiction November , Robin Wall Kimmerer’s The Serviceberry is an extended essay that proposes that we look to nature to find different lenses through which to view our world. In The Serviceberry, Kimmerer’s focus is on economics and how conventional economics views the world based on a model of scarcity and competition. She proposes instead we turn our view towards the natural world and to those who’ve lived in harmony with it, Indigenous peoples. When we do this, we see principles of reciprocity and sharing, respect and gratitude.

Looking at the example of the serviceberry, Kimmerer discusses how the tree provides for the birds who feed on it (notably the lovely Cedar Waxwings shown on the cover) but how, in so doing, the waxwings then spread the seeds far and wide. She describes the importance of the shrub to First Nations who show respect and gratitude for the gifts from the natural world.

Serviceberries happen to be one of my own favourite shrubs which is why I was so eager to read this book (I have two at home, swipe to see pics). The frothy spring flowers look like light fluffy snowflakes dancing in the air. These turn into deep purple berries in early summer which the birds gorge on. And then, in the fall, the leaves turn a rich orange before finally dropping off. Kimmerer has helped me understand these plants even better and to see them in new ways, as a metaphor for looking at our world.

Sometimes the shortest books can have the deepest impact and this one certainly left me thinking. Kimmerer’s discussion about our consumer-driven world had me reflecting on my own habits, particularly when it comes to books and it's got me thinking about whether 2025 might be a year in which I put the brakes on purchasing and actually focus on reading the books I have. This slim volume (it’s 95 pages including some beautiful illustrations by John Burgoyne) has definitely lit this fire.

I loved Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass for her ability to connect images of nature with broader concepts and The Serviceberry continues that dialogue. A thoughtful book that, because of its descriptions of nature and its brevity, doesn’t feel dry or too academic, The Serviceberry hits the sweet spot that good non-fiction can: it makes you think and prompts you to action.

I loved Braiding Sweetgrass and when I saw the Serviceberry, I couldn’t request it fast enough.

Robin Wall Kimmerer writes an essay discussing societal problem of overconsumption and the inability of a gift economy to overcome cheaters. We live in a society that values profit and commodity rather than reciprocity. The author uses the serviceberry (loved by birds and humans alike) and little free libraries to illustrate the importance of reciprocity and only taking what you need.

She asks us to consider what it would mean to live in a world where resources are shared rather than hoarded, where community and getting out there meeting people and trying new things are more important than individual gain.

It’s a quick yet important read and illustrations are beautiful.


Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for the ARC

This is a lovely bite-sized book that talks about community care, environment, Indigenous traditions, and how they work hand in hand to make our natural environment and world a better place. It'd be perfect for anyone who cares about the environment and climate change, including non-readers! At only around 100 pages, it's something that everyone can enjoy reading. This would also make a fantastic gift book.

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.

Kimmerer writes it, I buy it.

She has a way with words making the natural world sound so magical and enticing and she’s placing it all in the palms of her readers hands.

Much like Braiding Sweetgrass this was a beautiful ode to nature and the indigenous way of life.

Stunning.

This is a lovely, feel-good essay about abundance and reciprocity, using the memoir of the serviceberry. This book uses examples in nature to highlight how we can perceive, imagine, and build our own gift economies, centered on themes of abundance and reciprocity. Depending on where you're coming from as a reader, this book may not be breaking any new ground for you with regards to the concepts of capitalism vs. reciprocity, but paired with the beautiful illustrations, this does make for a beautiful package, and a beautiful story. This is the kind of book you gift to the people you love, to let them know how much abundance and joy you wish for them in this beautiful, beautiful world.

Short but extremely sweet - this is an extremely well-done description and reimagining of our societies in a world ravaged by capitalist economies. I feel so encouraged by Robin's thoughtful exploration of regenerative gift economies and the many levels which they can benefit people, our planet, and the more-than-human beings around us. I so appreciated the real-life examples of how these kinds of economies are already playing out in our world and how they can interplay with our current economic systems. It made me feel hopeful about the future and reminded me about the importance of giving back to others and the earth whenever we can. As long as we have joy on our side there is hope :) Robin really did it again! A must read.

“This abundance of berries feels like a pure gift from the land. I have not earned, paid for, nor labored for them.”
A great look at how the natural world can teach us so much as a society and how to care for the world.
As a lover of saskatoons and knowing what a gift they are, I loved this.
So many ideas on how to bring a gift community into our lives

The serviceberry has many names - shadbush, saskatoon, juneberry, and sugarplum to name a few. Using the set up of the author picking these berries on a summer day and the birds eating the berries along side her, Robin dives into the idea of economics and the natural world.

This book provides a basic outline for ecological economics. Having absolutely no background in economics, I appreciated the simplistic approach and explanations to help me understand the fundamental ideas. The basis of this book is an economy valuing reciprocity instead of scarcity. It may seem idealistic in this consumer driven capitalist western world, but many of the ideas are applicable to individuals and focus more on perception vs action.

This book is written in prose and poetic language, which is vastly different to most texts on economics. Because of this back and forth between the poetic language and the content, I found it hard to follow the narrative at times. I would be reading and forget the original point! I did appreciate that this was a short read (it started as an essay and was expanded upon), as I think I would have lost interest if it was any longer. However, I did find many interesting ideas presented in this book and a few things I want to apply to how I live my life. For example, I resonated with the idea of never taking more than half, and never being the first or the last to take when foraging.

I don’t read a lot of non-fiction, but if you do you may appreciate the unique perspective and presentation of The Serviceberry!

Beautiful prose, vivid descriptions and knowledge sharing. This book will envelope you and ask you to see the world and its future differently. Stunning

If you’re looking for a read that challenges the status quo and invites you to rethink your relationship with community and nature, look no further than The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer! This beautifully crafted essay explores the concept of a gift economy, illuminating how such a system can enrich our lives and foster deeper connections within our communities.

Kimmerer’s exploration of a gift economy resonates deeply with me. The idea of banking goodwill and nurturing reciprocal relationships is not just a lofty ideal; it’s something I experience in my own life and I think we all do! For instance, my neighbour often shares fresh carrots from her garden, and in return, I whip up a delicious carrot soup for her. It’s a simple exchange, but it embodies the spirit of generosity and community that Kimmerer so eloquently champions.

The book also discusses the joy found in our little free libraries sharing freely with those we do not know This along with little free pantries, are perfect examples of reciprocity in action, where sharing knowledge and resources creates a sense of belonging and connection. Isn’t it wonderful how giving can feel just as good, if not better, than receiving?

Kimmerer’s critique of cutthroat capitalism is particularly striking. She aptly points out that we attribute its outcomes to “the system,” but that in fact it is really a small number of individuals that often dictate the rules and benefit. This perspective encourages us to reflect on our own roles within this framework and consider how we can shift towards a more community-oriented approach.

The Serviceberry is more than just a book; it’s a call to action. It provides food for thought about how we live in our communities and what we should strive for—not only for ourselves but also for the health of our planet.

Would I recommend The Serviceberry? Yes, for anyone seeking inspiration on how to cultivate a more connected and compassionate world. Let’s embrace the gift economy and see how it can transform our lives!

Thank you to @simonschusterca and @netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this essay.