Our economy is obsessed with scarcity, competition, get and have more, more, more. The serviceberries show us a different way—the gift economy in the natural world.

And beyond the birds and the berries… what can we learn from gift economies for ourselves? How can we model this as families, communities, and on a larger scale? Previously, I only knew this idea as “hobbit birthday parties,” something felt throughout the hobbit culture even if not explicitly named. In The Serviceberry, being introduced to gift economies of indigenous peoples and even some practices we have today as a contrast to our mixed/market economy is refreshing and exciting. It is a reliance on trust and mutual care.

“Gift economies arise from the abundance of gifts from the earth,” she says, and if we will rethink consumption and approach resources more mindfully, we nurture our relationships and interconnectedness instead.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review. I am honored and highly recommend The Serviceberry.

Robin Wall Kimmerer is absolutely brilliant and I love her writing---the soulfulness and beauty of it, and the kinds of themes she interweaves. So happy I had the chance to read this early!

A great read about the economics of a serviceberry and gifting in a society and how it could change our attitudes about the world we live in. It uses the serviceberry as a lesson and its history and an example of what a gifting economy would look like in the world. We need to regain our humanity and this book sheds some light on one direction we could take to achieve a better life.

I love Kimmerer so much, and her first book really radically changed my worldview. This small book dives more in depth into the idea of a gift economy that she introduced in "Braiding Sweetgrass." Again, I am blown away by her way of putting things and the simplicity with which she speaks of a concept and worldview that have the power to save the world if only we would embrace them. Her way of explaining indigenous ways of knowing really sings to my soul, and I will read anything that she writes.

I love everything about this book. The mix of ecology and economics as well as the championing of a gift economy and better, more thoughtful relationships with the world around us is such a nice read. The style and voice is strong and informative and it just makes me want to do more somehow.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC

For a short book - more like a long essay - this one definitely packs a punch. Don't let the calming sweetness of the author's voice lull you into complacency, as you will actually be digging deep into some very interesting ideas about theories of economics and discussions about how to look at economics in a different way. She builds on the theme of reciprocity which is huge in Braiding Sweetgrass, and she brings in the gift economy and how to start trying to heal the world after we've seriously damaged it with our capitalistic supply and demand and extraction based resource use. She offers some thoughts on how to even start small so you don't feel hopeless in the face of billionaires and climate change. This was a wonderful book and truly just what I needed to read in the weeks leading up to the US election. I highly recommend it! Thank you Netgalley for the advance copy.

I LOVE Robin Wall Kimmerer! Braiding Sweetgrass is one of my all-time favorite books, and this one is also excellent. It's much shorter than Braiding Sweetgrass and focuses entirely on the concept of gift economies modeled on the natural world that we can implement in our own lives. Since reading this book I've thought more intentionally about gift economies in my own life and the idea of reciprocity, particularly among friendships.

Wow, I should not be in the least bit surprised that Robin Wall Kimmerer has written another incredible piece, and yet The Serviceberry absolutely enraptured me and made me consider how I can better incorporate the principles of the gift economy into my life. I think anyone who may, like me, abhor the fact that they are stuck in end stage capitalism, can maybe even feel leaving optimistic on how to make things just even a little better for yourself and your community.

Kimmermer presents the serviceberry as an analogy for the gift economy - how the birds who feast on the serviceberry help spread the seeds and allow for the serviceberry to flourish while at the same time ensuring the birds may continue to be nourished; to how people picking the berries may then provide the surplus to their neighbors, who may then make a pie, which is then shared. In the end, the gift economy is about fostering community - "the prosperity of the community grows from the flow of relationships, not the accumulation of goods"

She ends the book encouraging folks to determine how they can incorporate the gift economy into their own life, and I promise to continue to find ways to do just that and encourage anyone who could use a little hope to do the same and read The Serviceberry.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and to Scribner for the advanced copy.

Thank you for this! This is just beautiful. It has me thinking about food and abundance in a whole new way. And I want to try one of these berries. It also has me thinking of gifts in another way.
I recommended this to like minded friends before I even finished it. It spoke to my soul. I know it will speak to theirs too.

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.

A beautifully written book that used serviceberries and the natural world to illustrate and illuminate the author's understanding and hope for a better economic world. Kimmerer's voice is so strong that I once again felt like this was a conversation and the wisdom and thoughts that she imparted with this book lasted long after I finished reading. A book that I would recommend to anyone and everyone.

Robin Wall Kimmerer has such a poetic way of writing nonfiction!! I loved this book. I have a new-found love for serviceberries and all they do for the natural world. The serviceberry’s abundance and gifting has opened up a new perspective for how I want to approach community and loving others. Very beautiful, influential book!

A beautiful beautiful short book about the importance of community and a gift oriented economy (vs a capitalist economy). I highlighted so many diff passages in this book, its truly a gem and helped me to rethink a lot about mutual aid and plants, of course!

This was such an incredible book and truly inspired me. I highlighted so many passages, which I wish I could quote. But I will for sure be getting a copy once this is published so I can save and share some of the wonderful things and insights that Robin Wall Kimmerer has.

The premise of these essays was eye opening and I think changed my thinking about the world. I felt like giving back to the precious earth that I inhabit and I so grateful everyday that I get to be in this world. I wish that as a whole we could get away from such transactional encounters and live more by gifts and giving. There would be less war and violence. While reading this book it got me thinking about how water is something free that the world gives us, yet there are so many people who don't have access to clean water. That is so wild to me, that we have to pay for something like water that we NEED every single day, that is free from the earth. But we have commodified it and require folks to pay for access. It also made me think of the people in Occupied Palestine, who have never been able to access good water from the occupiers. How terrible that the colonizers block indigenous folks from accessing something like that.

Anyway, please read this. Be kind to the people who you see, give back when you can. The world needs that.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for a free copy of this ARC!

Robin Wall Kimmerer excels at writing books that connect nature to human nature. In this short book, she connects the gifts the natural world offers to human gift economies. From there, she considers our capitalist economy and it's environmental toll and then circles back to what nature can teach us about our relationship with things and with others. As always thoughtful and thought provoking, Kimmerer's is an automatic read for me. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in return for my honest opinion.

Restraint. Respect. Reciprocity.
These three words sum up this delightful book on gift economics. We need to have everyone on earth hear this message!

Robin Wall Kimmerer's The Serviceberry ponders about our gift economy using something as simple as berries to relay the concept. This book weaves indigenous knowledge, ecology, philosophy, and sociology together to model how relationships of reciprocity and a give-and-take can benefit us all, rather than hoarding and selfish interests.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC.

This was an easy read but it was incredibly impactful. I've never really thought of giving and sharing as an economic model but having read this book, I can see how world changing sharing could be. Indigenous practices are so intuitive and this is no exception.

If you are looking for a cozy, inspiring, and quick read for this holiday season, you have got to read The Serviceberry. Kimmerer is such a great essayist and weaves a tapestry with these writings on "gift economy" and its correlation to the berry. Each short essay had pieces that struck me, and the book, though short, carries a lot of impact.

Seriously, this is the perfect read for the holiday season. It's excellent.

Thanks to Netgalley and Scribner for the e-ARC!

I love Robin Wall Kimmerer. I loved the ideas she presented here and the characteristic beautiful language that she uses to present it. I only wished there was more.