The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer review – the fruits of labour

<p>The ecosystem around a small fruit inspires an ecological alternative to capitalism </p><p>When you look at a berry, what&nbsp;do you see? A snack, a&nbsp;storehouse of energy, a&nbsp;transformed flower, a commodity, a gift? In her latest book, the US botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer views a tiny fruit through all of these lenses, in the&nbsp;process illuminating much bigger questions about how we humans relate&nbsp;to plants, to the natural world and to each other.</p><p>The Serviceberry builds on the blend of Indigenous and western ecological thought that has made Kimmerer – unexpectedly – one of the best known environmental writers working today. During the pandemic, her essay collection <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/23/robin-wall-kimmerer-people-cant-understand-the-world-as-a-gift-unless-someone-shows-them-how">Braiding Sweetgrass</a>, which entwined Indigenous American teachings on plants and the land with western botanical science, became a&nbsp;slow-burn bestseller. It began as an unsolicited 750-page manuscript submitted to the small Minneapolis-based publisher Milkweed in 2010, was published in 2013, and has now sold more than 2m copies worldwide, featuring on the reading lists of celebrities from <a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/news/article/emma-watson-reading-list">Emma Watson</a> to <a href="https://www.artforum.com/video/the-musician-artist-and-author-scientist-discuss-how-to-live-in-right-relationship-to-the-land-167697/">Björk</a>, and inspiring the singer Camila Cabello to get a <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/camila-cabello-mother-nature-tattoo-9656727/">neck tattoo</a> of the eponymous herb.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/nov/21/the-serviceberry-by-robin-wall-kimmerer-review-the-fruits-of-labour">Continue reading...</a>