The Serviceberry Audiobook By Robin Wall Kimmerer cover art

The Serviceberry

Preview
Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Serviceberry

By: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Narrated by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $7.49

Buy for $7.49

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

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 insures 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.”

©2024 Robin Wall Kimmerer (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio
Biological Sciences Botany & Plants Editors Select Indigenous Studies Outdoors & Nature Science Social Sciences Specific Demographics
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_T1_webcro805_stickypopup
Beautiful Writing • Indigenous Wisdom • Soothing Voice • Poetic Storytelling • Inspiring Message • Accessible Concepts
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
Absolutely essential is remembering gift economy works on a SMALL scale. But I like the ideals very much. I think some of the analogies to the natural world were a bit of a stretch, but I see the point. The only thing I disliked was the use of a given name as a put-down. I never liked calling people Brandon or Karen and find using Daryl just as childishly offensive. It also seems contrary to the generous spirit of gift economy. Like the author, I see all kinds of gift and exchange economies around these days, and they are genius ways of reusing things that would otherwise end up in landlords. It reminds me when I was a kid and neighbors would trade clothes and furniture when their own kids grew out of them. I also HATED getting hand-me-downs, but more I wear used clothing with pride.

Very good contrast between service economy and market economy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Great information and concepts in this book like a gift economy! What a gift this book.

A gift

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I loved learning about the serviceberry and a gratitude economy. This is a quick read filled with wisdom that is timeless.

A great story with an important message.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I enjoyed the authors emotion and passion behind her work. I want to be apart of the gift economy

Gift economy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I didn't realize just how hopeless I have felt about the economy, the world,and my place in it, until I witnessed myself crying every 15 minutes during this audiobook. a must read for everyone. All thriving is mutual.

simple and profound

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Every book by Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer is a gift of information and hope. Such a delight!

Gentle, gracious book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

This book offers a delicate link between the the modern and thoughtless abuse of nature, and the indigenous respectful view on the natural world - the way we ALL should treat it, for it is our survival on this planet that is at stake if we keep disregarding nature.
Delightfully spoken from the heart, full of vibrant emotion, letting me FEEL I am there with the birds and the trees and LIFE. It pulled me right back to my Sundance visit in Canada with the Cree people who tought me so incredibly much. Thank you Robin for this beautiful book and valuable insights. Yvonne

Delightful book - back to nature and essence of life

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Hope we create more of a gift economy. Encourage others to read and understand gift economics.

Gift economy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

her words dig deep into your soul and the way she reads it really helped you connect to her words. I can not recommend this book enough!

Soul connecting

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

May the wise words from this book ripple forth, to create waves of change that cleanse our world of greed & selfishness … one ripple, one gift, one berry at a time 💞

Absolutely beautiful!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews