Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses

Rating:
Summary: Resonance of life
Review: For an artist, Kimmerer's writing brings a resonance of life to science. She crosses the ideological barrier between the two cultures of human interpretation in ways few scientists can. Stephen J Gould, EO Wilson, David Bohn, Carl Sagan, and many other scientists and written awe-inspiring interpretations of the wonderfully complex relationship between human understanding and some of the more simple forms of nature; but Robin Wall Kimmerer may well have written this beautifully poetic book more to help scientists to see their linear research from a deeper more human level.

Annie Dillard's "Pilgrim at Tinker's Creek" comes to mind as one of the few other successful books of this genera. To me, "Gathering Moss" rates as a fascinating counter-point to Dillard's writing. Kimmerer is a scientist, native American, and mother who balances all roles with the ease the good art appears to have.

While I have waxed on about the two cultures, this book is written for everyone who cares about life and nature,


Rating:
Summary: Eloquent, poetic nature prose! Very enjoyable!
Review: Gathering Moss is a wonderful collection of essays written from the heart of a idigenous writer. I truly enjoyed reading the book. The essays relate life experiences of the author (a Mom and professor of botany). These stories are skillfully woven together with humor, scientific knowledge and the spiritual experience of being in the woods. The descriptions of the landscape and plants bring me back to the Adirondack mountains...you can almost smell the balsam and feel the cool dampness of the mosses. I highly recommend this book!

Rating:
Summary: Seeing green
Review: I had originally picked up this book after reading a review in which the author was favorably compared to Annie Dillard's Pilgrim At Tinker Creek. The first of the essays 'The Standing Stones' defiantly had hints of Dillard in it but the rest of the book did not continue in that same vain (I can only assume that particular review only read the first few pages). If Dillard is the forest, Kimmerer is the tree (or rather the moss on the tree).

This book represents a look at the natural world as though on one's hands and knees with a magnifying glass. Everywhere the author is seeing mosses-both literarily (mosses really do seem to be willing to grow almost anywhere) and figuratively. But perhaps what I found most surprisingly about it all is that the talk of mosses never seemed forced, like it was just being shoved unwillingly into a discussion of her relationship with her daughter but rather always seemed to naturally flow. I do not believe this is so much because of the relevance of mosses to all of these topics as much as it is because of Kimmerer's unique vision. This unique (almost megalomaniacal) vision is what allows the book to escapee feeling artificial because for Kimmerer none of these moss connections are forces, she really does see it. Like a man who thinks he sees his lover's face everywhere; so goes Kimmerer see mosses. The uninitiated cannot expect to see as the lover sees but this book does give a glimpse.

Having said all of that I will say that this book was a little heavy on the Latin names for me-this is largely because, as Kimmerer, explains most mosses do not have common names but still... it seems to create a cretin impersonalness-as if you were introduced to someone who was suppose to be your new best friend but you were asked to only use his surname, Mr.so-and-so.

While I certainly feel enriched by the flood of new horticultural information found in Gathering Moss it's greatest strength is in providing that glimpse of the world through the eyes of a lover.

Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly Enjoyable
Review: I purchased a copy of this book after hearing the author read a short passage on NPR. I was fascinated with her prose but did not expect a book, written by a biologist about an obscure topic of limited interest to a lay person, to be a compelling page turner. I read the first chapter and was hooked, devouring the remaining pages in two sittings. I immediately ordered two additional copies as Christmas gifts. Ms Kimmerer is an entertaining story teller in the finest tradition of indigenous peoples in addition to her many talents as a professional biologist, ecologist and expert bryologist. I especially recommend this book to those who may think they know everything they wish to about mosses, for there is something for all readers here.

Rating:
Summary: A Model of Popular Science Writing
Review: Science writers have a responsibility to educate the public so that people will act to save what's left of the web of life. Few carry out their task with such effectiveness as Robin Wall Kimmerer has done in Gathering Moss. Well-chosen similes and analogies animate her stories, and well-drawn parallels to other areas of science broaden their appeal. I'm recommending this book to all of my friends, especially those who haven't yet discovered the wonders to be found in wandering around in forests.