Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

52 reviews

parasolcrafter's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

5.0

this really is one of those books someone like me cant really add anything to; all i can say is that its an INCREDIBLE book that i think almost everyone should read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Genocide, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Colonisation, Grief, Death, and Racism

betag1013's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Child death, Animal death, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Genocide, Xenophobia, and War

hailstorm3812's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

This book is so so good. I don't have the words to describe it. It is such a good blend of information and heart. She knows exactly when to pull from her degree, her heritage, and her lived experience. It is such a perspective shifter of a book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide and Colonisation

Moderate: Cultural appropriation

Minor: Violence, Religious bigotry, War, and Sexism

ashwaar's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

Braiding Sweetgrass is a hefty book packed with stories, anecdotes and emotions. Throughout its pages, Kimmerer takes us along as she surveys mountainsides, harvests roots, saves reptiles from becoming roadkill, and watches her girls grow up and leave home. She discusses the delicate intersection of loving the planet whilst studying it and concludes that you cannot understand the environment if you don't feel for it.

The book has its basis in science, but Kimmerer explains ecological processes so deftly and poetically that it's easy to take in. Even if you don't understand everything, the language and writing style clearly shows her love and respect for the topic. The chapters range in length and topic, but a few of my favourites include the erasure of indigenous languages, stories of tapping maple syrup trees, and rituals performed in thanks for the land.

The book acknowledges and discusses the role of indigenous knowledge in scientific understanding of the Earth and how to live in balance with our land. After reading this, I felt more compelled to pause when hiking to accept the landscapes around me and feel gratitude for them. Braiding Sweetgrass is a non-fiction book I'd recommend to almost everyone as essential reading.

Rating: 4.5/5

Read more on Wordpress at Bookmarked by Ash: https://book990337086.wordpress.com/

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, and Animal death

Moderate: Death and Racism

madzie's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

A very insightful and significant book. Kimmerer offers a lot of insights into plants, cultures, and our modern world, helping readers to examine the world they live in every day. Kimmerer has such a profound voice in her writing that is wonderful to read. She has wonderful, emotion-provoking descriptions throughout the novel that makes you truly feel these lessons. Toward the middle of the book, I felt like there was a lag in the flow of information where parts seemed not to fit together as well as in the beginning and end. Fundamentally, this is a well-written and important book that I would highly suggest to others.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Animal death, Vomit, and Colonisation

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Genocide, and Death

Minor: Cannibalism

This book goes into graphic depth about climate change and the death of nature and our planet.

karcitis's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Colonisation, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, and Xenophobia

Minor: Vomit and Cannibalism

lizziaha's review against another edition

hopeful informative inspiring

5.0

This book made me deeply reflect on my own life and the ways that I interact with nature. I hope it changed me for the better. I also was pleasantly surprised to see how narrative-based this book was. It made the read faster and more interesting. And Kimmerer’s language is so beautiful, while maintaining a simplicity that kept everything easy to understand. Especially to hear it in her own voice, I felt like I was floating along these words. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization and Genocide

Moderate: Colonisation, Grief, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

antijeffbozo_love2read's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Child abuse, Genocide, and Grief

Minor: Child death

itkit's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Genocide

Minor: Suicide

kirsto's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide, Racism, and Colonisation

occasionally graphic descriptions of native american boarding schools, forced removal of native tribes from their ancestral lands, etc