Abby Shin

I am officially on my summer break (yay!), which means I have so much more time for reading. Since I want to improve my scientific understanding of the environment but also take a break before grad school in September, one of my summer goals is to access more creative ways of learning about the natural world – including non-fiction and fiction books. I started this summer with a short non-fiction that has been on my list for a while – Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer, the same incredible writer, activist, and botanist behind Braiding Sweetgrass. Robin has an amazing talent for utilizing personal stories to marry science and Indigenous Knowledge. Her teachings and anecdotes are so well written that you learn so much without even realizing it.

Gathering Moss is a beautiful introduction to the lives, histories, and science of mosses. Through stories of her life, research, and journey as a bryologist (someone who studies bryophytes, including mosses), Robin Wall Kimmerer illustrates countless extraordinary facts about mosses in a remarkably intriguing way. Including their many roles in ecosystem restoration and functioning, their relationship to Indigenous women and mothers, the novel discoveries Kimmerer and her students have made about ecology through mosses, the plight and resilience of urban mosses, and so much more.

One thing I have learned from books like this one and The Light Eaters is that small miracles occur all around us constantly – it is such a shame we are estranged from so many of them. Through Gathering Moss, Kimmerer teaches us to appreciate, respect, and learn from some of the smallest and often unnoticed living beings. This is demonstrated in the quote below, which discusses the highly complex dynamics of moss patches (pg. 61).

There is no word but awe for the biological excess of that place, the profusion of life, vivid and complex beyond our grasp. At every turn of a leaf, there are mysteries. There are life forms here that occur no where else on the planet and intricate relationships evolved over eons. You might take care not to step on them.

You can find Gathering Moss at your local Book City.