'Kimmerer blends with deep attentiveness and musicality science and personal insights to tell
the overlooked story of the planet's oldest plants' Guardian'Bewitching ... a masterwork ... a
glittering read in its entirety' Maria Popova Brainpickings Living at the limits of our
ordinary perception mosses are a common but largely unnoticed element of the natural world.
Gathering Moss is a beautifully written mix of science and personal reflection that invites
readers to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses. In these interwoven
essays Robin Wall Kimmerer leads general readers and scientists alike to an understanding of
how mosses live and how their lives are intertwined with the lives of countless other beings.
Kimmerer explains the biology of mosses clearly and artfully while at the same time reflecting
on what these fascinating organisms have to teach us. Drawing on her experiences as a scientist
a mother and a Native American Kimmerer explains the stories of mosses in scientific terms as
well as within the framework of indigenous ways of knowing. In her book the natural history
and cultural relationships of mosses become a powerful metaphor for ways of living in the
world.