The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World

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.

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of the #1 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. She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.

John Burgoyne is a member of the New York Society of Illustrators and an alumni of Massachusetts College of Art. John has won over 100 awards in the United States and Europe including Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, Hatch Awards, Graphis, Print, One Show, New York Art Directors Club and Clio. His work can be found at JohnTBurgoyneIllustration.com.

ISBN: 9781668072240
Format: Hardback
Pages: 128
Publisher: Scribner
Published: November 19, 2024

Named a Best Book of the Fall by New York Times Book Review, Oprah Daily, Time, Lithub, BookPage, and Publishers Weekly

“The Serviceberry is a profoundly important book about how we might remodel consumer economies around mutuality, generosity, and bountifulness. The time you’ll spend reading this book will, like the time spent picking wild berries, nourish your soul, heart, and mind. I hope to give this book to everybody.” —Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See and Cloud Cuckoo Land

“A meditation on communing with nature and cultivating connections with one another . . . [a] short, thoughtful book . . . Think of The Serviceberry as a subset of Braiding Sweetgrass, expanding on the gift economy theory… She makes a convincing argument, wrapped in beautiful language and vivid imagery… An optimistic book, one that trusts in the ability of people to do the right thing.” —Washington Post

“A small book with a profound impact.” —Angeline Boulley, Good Morning America, "10 Books to Read this Native American Heritage Month

“The Serviceberry is bound to appeal to the readers who made Braiding Sweetgrass a more-than-2-million-copies-sold phenomenon. Like Braiding Sweetgrass, The Serviceberry draws on traditional Native ways of caring for the land (Kimmerer is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation). And, like Braiding Sweetgrass, it uses plain language to demonstrate truths about the way all of us live in the world.” —Minnesota Star Tribune

“The Serviceberry is a gem of a book. it invites us to think again about economics, and imagine another way of relating to one another based on generosity, kindness, interconnectedness, and restraint. The book reminds us that how we think, and the stories we tell, shape how we live—and it’s high time we thought and lived differently, with new stories, about our place in nature.” —James Rebanks

“A moving meditation on what a giving tree can teach us about building a fairer society… A compelling argument for a more ethical economy.” —TIME

“A novella-length meditation on the abundance that sharing and mutual exchange can create…The Serviceberry continues a long tradition of naturalistic writing about interdependence in the wild…an impassioned call not just to return to the natural webs of exchange that are our birthright‚ but to recapture the fulfillment that stems from interdependence." —Undark Magazine

“Certain to be acclaimed as one of the best books of the year.” —Parade

“Robin Wall Kimmerer, celebrated author of Braiding Sweetgrass, gifts her readers once again with this gorgeous meditation on reciprocity and abundance in nature. . . Beautifully illustrated, brimming and buzzing with plant and animal life, The Serviceberry is a lyrical call to action.” —Oprah Daily

“A delightful new book that reflects on the natural world and how we can derive lessons on gratitude, reciprocity and community to flourish mutually.” —Seattle Times

“Kimmerer’s deeply rooted, wise, and inspiring reflections coalesce into a fresh approach to connecting ecology, economics, and ethics… [Readers] will learn a lot about ecological ways of living from Kimmerer's nature-rooted wisdom and beautifully clear writing.” —Booklist, starred review

“An eloquent call to action.” —Publishers Weekly

“Kimmerer, drawing from her Potawatomi heritage, uses the abundant serviceberry to demonstrate the gifts that the natural world provides. This portrait is startling in its simplicity, resulting in a masterful reflection on ecology and culture. The book seamlessly blends science, inherited wisdom, and philosophy . . . [Kimmerer’s] beautiful and hopeful prose leaves readers feeling sated, galvanized, and keenly aware of the world around them. A welcome meditation on living in harmony with the earth and fostering deeper connections with one another.” —Kirkus


Praise for Robin Wall Kimmerer and Braiding Sweetgrass

“I give daily thanks for Robin Wall Kimmerer for being a font of endless knowledge, both mental and spiritual.”—Richard Powers, The New York Times

“Robin Wall Kimmerer is writer of rare grace. She writes about the natural world from a place of such abundant passion that one can never quite see the world the same way after having seen it through Kimmerer’s eyes... She is a great teacher, and her words are a hymn of love to the world.” —Elizabeth Gilbert

“Robin Wall Kimmerer has written an extraordinary book, showing how the factual, objective approach of science can be enriched by the ancient knowledge of the indigenous people. It is the way she captures beauty that I love the most—the images of giant cedars and wild strawberries, a forest in the rain and a meadow of fragrant sweetgrass will stay with you long after you read the last page.” —Jane Goodall

“Robin Wall Kimmerer opens a sense of wonder and humility for the intelligence in all kinds of life we are used to naming and imagining as inanimate.” —Krista Tippett, host of On Being