Another eye-opening book that reminds you of the beauty all around us and our responsibility to protect and share it. Devoured Kimmerer’s latest book in a sitting and already can’t wait to read again.

Robin Wall Kimmerer’s The Serviceberry is a beautifully written and deeply thought-provoking exploration of reciprocity, gratitude, and community, drawing wisdom from the natural world and Indigenous traditions. As a fan of Braiding Sweetgrass, I was eager to read this new work—and it did not disappoint. After reading an advanced copy, I purchased my own to be able to refer back to!

Kimmerer’s gift as both a scientist and a storyteller shines through as she weaves ecological knowledge with philosophy and cultural wisdom. Using the serviceberry tree as a central metaphor, she challenges the scarcity-driven mindset of modern economics and offers a vision of a gift economy—one based on generosity, balance, and interconnection. Her reflections encourage readers to reconsider what true wealth means, emphasizing that well-being is not found in hoarding resources but in nurturing relationships with others and the land.

Kimmerer’s writing is both poetic and urgent, offering a much-needed remedy to the individualism and exploitation that dominate our society. She reminds us that the natural world thrives on reciprocity and that we, too, can build systems based on care and shared abundance.

The Serviceberry is not just a book—it’s an invitation to reimagine our relationships with each other and the planet. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to be inspired by a more generous and interconnected way of living.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster and Scribner for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

What a wonderful book. It really made me evaluate myself and whether I am doing enough for others and open to sharing with others. A lot of times it is everyone for themselves and this is one thing that worries me for the future.

Her viewpoint and insights about how we are all connected and how we can nurture each other was truly inspiring

I knew The Serviceberry was going to be a hit for me, Robin Wall Kinmerer is a gift.

It’s interesting to be reading this while LA is on fire—-we’re seeing a gift economy being built currently. We see a gift economy born during the aftermaths of every disaster. What if we could just have that be our staple? Our everyday? What if we collective remember that the planet is our responsibility to care for instead of something to own?

I refuse to let go of hope.

A tiny little book that grounds us, reconnects us with our peers, and highlights the power of small actions that make a difference. I was inspired and now aspire to do better! A must-read !

Featured this title in the major annual holiday gift books editorial package I put together for The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper

This short book provides a beautiful commentary on how our current economic system is failing society, and how we should learn from the serviceberry, which shows us another economic pathway. It is built on an economy of reciprocity and abundance, storing our extras in the bellies of our brothers, neighbors, and friends, instead of our current system of scarcity and hoarding. One example of how society is embracing a system of reciprocity is through the many little free libraries and the very similar food pantries, which can be seen anywhere from the sidewalk in a neighbourhood, at parks, in businesses, and more! They operate on a system of leaving what you can and taking what you need.

I really enjoyed learning from The Serviceberry, and hope more people will embrace the knowledge Robin Kimmerer has shared with us.

A thought-provoking "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.

Having loved Braiding Sweetgrass, I was very excited for this new book. I ended up really enjoying it! The short length worked really well to keep the focus tight and to really emphasize the topic of the book. It gave me a lot to think about and I will probably return to this book in the future.

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