The Serviceberry

Written by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Narrated by Robin Wall Kimmerer

An Instant New York Times Bestseller

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world.

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 ensures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”

As Elizabeth Gilbert writes, Robin Wall Kimmerer is “a great teacher, and her words are a hymn of love to the world.” The Serviceberry is an antidote to the broken relationships and misguided goals of our times, and a reminder that “hoarding won’t save us, all flourishing is mutual.”

Robin Wall Kimmerer is donating her advance payments from this book as a reciprocal gift, back to the land, for land protection, restoration, and justice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Nov 19, 2024
• ISBN: 9781668116692

Robin Wall Kimmerer

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, writer, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants as well as Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. Kimmerer is a 2022 MacArthur Fellow and was named to the Time list of the100 Most Influential People of 2025. She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. --- Robin Wall Kimmerer es madre, científica, escritora, profesora condecorada, miembro de la Nación Potawatomi. Es autora del bestseller del New York Times Una trenza de hierba sagrada, así como de Reserva de musgo: una historia natural y cultural. Kimmerer es becaria MacArthur Fellow de 2022. Vive en Syracuse, Nueva York, donde es Profesora Distinguida de Biología Ambiental en SUNY y fundadora y directora del Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.

Reviews for The Serviceberry

[alexandrasgoncalves99 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In a rather small number of pages, this book manages to be so beautiful and thought provoking!

[annasatana · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Short, sweet, and necessary. A gentle reminder that there is a better way for us to live, if we’re willing to make the effort.

[Candy Thomas · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Everyone who is a consumer should read this book. Acts of reciprocity need to occur in the natural world the political word and the economic world to ensure we all have access. Rather than hoarding and spending and buying things to make us happy. Maybe it’s not things but feelings and people who need to make us happy.

[Jessica Adolfo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A good book with an excellent audio narrator that gives you lots of food for thought

[Mim Adams · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Robin Wall Kimmerer is so good at communicating ways of thinking about sustainability. Her warmth and vision are a balm. In this short book the serviceberry tree provides the example for a better economy. Such powerful information delivered thoughtfully and clearly.