Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World

Written by Tyson Yunkaporta

Narrated by Tyson Yunkaporta

A paradigm-shifting book in the vein of Sapiens that brings a crucial Indigenous perspective to historical and cultural issues of history, education, money, power, and sustainability—and offers a new template for living.

As an indigenous person, Tyson Yunkaporta looks at global systems from a unique perspective, one tied to the natural and spiritual world. In considering how contemporary life diverges from the pattern of creation, he raises important questions. How does this affect us? How can we do things differently?

In this thoughtful, culturally rich, mind-expanding book, he provides answers. Yunkaporta’s writing process begins with images. Honoring indigenous traditions, he makes carvings of what he wants to say, channeling his thoughts through symbols and diagrams rather than words. He yarns with people, looking for ways to connect images and stories with place and relationship to create a coherent world view, and he uses sand talk, the Aboriginal custom of drawing images on the ground to convey knowledge. 

In Sand Talk, he provides a new model for our everyday lives. Rich in ideas and inspiration, it explains how lines and symbols and shapes can help us make sense of the world. It’s about how we learn and how we remember. It’s about talking to everyone and listening carefully. It’s about finding different ways to look at things.

Most of all it’s about a very special way of thinking, of learning to see from a native perspective, one that is spiritually and physically tied to the earth around us, and how it can save our world.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: May 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9780062975652

Tyson Yunkaporta

Tyson Yunkaporta is an academic, an arts critic, and a researcher who is a member of the Apalech Clan in far north Queensland. He carves traditional tools and weapons and also works as a senior lecturer in Indigenous Knowledges at Deakin University in Melbourne. His first book, Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Change the World, was awarded the Ansari Institute's Nasr Book Prize awarded to an author who explores global issues using Indigenous perspectives. He lives in Melbourne, Australia.

Reviews for Sand Talk

[kristy_johnsson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

After reading so many books primarily by white authors about indigenous knowledge and ways of being, finally a bridge-builder who comes from the other side. And the result is a qualitatively different book. I’ll be reading this again so I can soak up everything I missed the first time.

[cecilea33 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Open minding book, author has a captivating voice, needs to be listen more than once as it goes in many directions.

[Cindy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mind blowing and deeply entertaining at the same time! If you're open to seeing and feeling the world in a radically new way, read this book. Better yet, listen to the author tell you himself.

[krishnanfromrgp · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting insights. Definitely need to revisit sometime later. Most important insight was : Respect, Connect, Reflect & Direct in that order.

[Melinda Mckinsey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The amount of information is very helpful to learning and exploring.
I appreciate the honesty and the lessons that I was never taught.
I’ll be listening to this audio version many times so the layers of knowledge can grow.
Highly recommend
Thank you

[Jaimie Fullmer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a refreshing view on the world and our place in it. What a relief to know there is a different way to live

[Nancy Steinhausen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A humbling opportunity for reflection for a colonist. Entertaining and informative.

[vanzaj-236111 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Complex adaptive systems (us too) yarning about living in a complex dynamic worlds.

[leslie.emery · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Not only does Yunkaporta provide his own interesting and expansive perspective in this books, but he also consults with many other indigenous people to share their perspective. I especially enjoyed his section on gender roles and the input he got from the expert he consulted for that section.I listened to the audiobook, which was read by the author and which I highly recommend. Because this book is about getting insight into indigenous thinking, it's especially helpful to hear it in the voice and delivery of the author himself, who is an engaging and very conversational speaker. Because the images in the book are very important to guiding the topic of each section, the publisher provided these illustrations in an online supplement for the audiobook, so it's easy to refer to them when they're indicated in the audio.I find myself thinking back to this book regularly, and I'm sure I'll listen to it again in the future and get even more out of it.

[willszal-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tyson Yunkaporta is an aboriginal Australian. There are a lot of books getting attention these days focused on "indigenous wisdom," and this is a standout.The first thing that stands out to me about the book is its structure; to write each chapter, Yunkaporta crafted an object to serve as a "mnemonic." I've experimented some over the years with using different methods of structuring writing, and I've heard many stories about aboriginal song lines, but I haven't seen anything like this before! It is a practice I'd like to reflect more on.Yunkaporta begins by speaking about narcissists. He establishes that the difference between colonizing cultures and indigenous cultures is that the former have a mindset of "better-than." This is a very simple idea that also is very true.Like a lot of books these days, "Sand Talk" gets pretty deep into ontology and epistemology. At the last chapter, he recaps the book through looking at five windows of knowing: 1) learning through close observation and demonstration, 2) passing on knowledge with a helping hand then gradually stepping back, 3) verbally, 4) memorization through deep listening, and 5) thinking, reflecting, and understanding. Like many themes in the book, this is a meta-framework that can be used to reinterpret the book itself.In this way, it is a book that can be read many times, and new depths will be found with subsequent readings.