KO reviewed Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Magnificent.
5 stars
Magnificently written book, mixing teaching with stories and memories. Do read it.
Paperback, 168 pages
English language
Published March 6, 2003 by Oregon State University Press.
4 stars
(3 reviews)
Gathering Moss is a series of personal essays introducing the reader to the life cycle, the ecology, and the natural history of mosses. The geographic range is restricted to the USA.
Victor Villas reviewed Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Definitely something
3 stars
I wanted to love this book but unfortunately the way I read and think is completely dissonant from it. Probably one of those books that I should not have picked up as an Audiobook, because I also did not particularly enjoy the narration style.
It's hard to put into words something so subjective, but I think I grew weary of the fairy-tale tone - which I'm sure comes naturally to the author. My skeptic and perhaps unfortunately cynic world view made it hard to go through a whole chapter without discomfort whenever the author speaks of "plants come when they're necessary" and other traditional ways of thinking about the ecosystem. I appreciate very much getting more contact with the thought process of different cultures, but I was incapable of enjoying this particular opportunity. Maybe I was just too eager to learn the science on mosses and subconsciously grew impatient any …
I wanted to love this book but unfortunately the way I read and think is completely dissonant from it. Probably one of those books that I should not have picked up as an Audiobook, because I also did not particularly enjoy the narration style.
It's hard to put into words something so subjective, but I think I grew weary of the fairy-tale tone - which I'm sure comes naturally to the author. My skeptic and perhaps unfortunately cynic world view made it hard to go through a whole chapter without discomfort whenever the author speaks of "plants come when they're necessary" and other traditional ways of thinking about the ecosystem. I appreciate very much getting more contact with the thought process of different cultures, but I was incapable of enjoying this particular opportunity. Maybe I was just too eager to learn the science on mosses and subconsciously grew impatient any time I got anything different; I had the wrong expectations about what this read was going to be.
I'm deliberately speaking of me in this review because I don't think these are problems that lie in the book. We are simply not meant for each other, at least not as I am today. Maybe books are like mosses and this one will show up again whey it's necessary and I'm ready for it.
loppear reviewed Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Some of these are still finding her way, but the range is worth it
5 stars
Essays of humor and humility and care, a sense of observation that stretches from the microscope to scientific inquiry to social obligation, and in a dozen different ways asks us to consider perspectives of place, belonging, and generosity from other being's vast or tiny differences. It's been a while since I read Braiding Sweetgrass, but I think this collection is no lesser for nominally having more of a narrow entryway through her world of moss.
Subjects
- Nature
- Nature/Ecology
- Plants - General
- Mosses
- Ecology
- Kimmerer, Robin Wall