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Gathering Moss cover art

Gathering Moss

Written by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Narrated by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
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Publisher's Summary

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 listeners to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses.  

Robin Wall Kimmerer's audiobook is not an identification guide, nor is it a scientific treatise. Rather, it is a series of linked personal essays that will lead general listeners and scientists alike to an understanding of how mosses live and how their lives are intertwined with the lives of countless other beings, from salmon and hummingbirds to redwoods and rednecks. Kimmerer clearly and artfully explains the biology of mosses, while at the same time reflecting on what these fascinating organisms have to teach us.  

Drawing on her diverse experiences as a scientist, mother, teacher, and writer of Native American heritage, Kimmerer explains the stories of mosses in scientific terms as well as in the framework of indigenous ways of knowing. In her audiobook, the natural history and cultural relationships of mosses become a powerful metaphor for ways of living in the world.

©2003 Robin Wall Kimmerer (P)2018 Tantor

What listeners say about Gathering Moss

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Beautiful voice

I loved listening to this book while I was outside running. Mosses are forever changed in my mind.

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4 people found this helpful

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Perfection

I held on to the last chapter for almost a year as I didn't want it to end.

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2 people found this helpful

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Great listen

One of the best I’ve listened to in a long time; I learned a lot about mosses and their influence. I will be getting her more recent book next

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2 people found this helpful

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Lovely

this was my before bed book. I absorbed so much knowledge and have a new respect and appreciation for my moss buddies

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1 person found this helpful

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absolutely lovely

i just want to start over
science and wisdom
comforting yet educational
perfect for slow walks and gardening
great narration

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A very good essay collection

Moss is an interesting plant, and this collection of essays does a very good job at exploring it in its variety and tenacity. These essays are easy to follow and raised my appreciation of a lowly plant in all its strengths. Well done!

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  • LR3
  • 2021-02-23

A Wonderful read

I love Robin Wall Kimmerer books and this one is no exception. She has a beautiful way of telling the story and speaking for the forest, plants and of course mosses who otherwise would have no voice. I am always left feeling a deep gratitude, greater appreciation and urge to protect what brings us life.

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Very enjoyable

I have listened to this author’s other book, “Braiding Sweetgrass” as well as this one. She has a wonderful narrator’s voice and both books are sprinkled with nuggets that betray her biologist’s lens. Highly recommended if you have a love for the natural world.

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Beautiful book

Love this book. It has opened my eyes to see that masses are truely beautiful.

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Wonderful Book

After reading Braiding Sweetgrass I needed more Robin in my life, and this book did not disappoint. Beautifully written and narrated, this audiobook brought me to tears many times. Highly recommend for anyone who loves nature, plants, mosses, and all the other creatures of this planet. The indigenous wisdom woven through the story is so powerful, I hope people will listen with an open heart.

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  • KatieBourgeois
  • 2019-02-23

Soul Stirring

Not only is Robin Wall Kimmerer's writing amazing but she has the loveliest voice I've ever heard in a book narration. Her writing has changed me deeply. I can't even begin to say how but I'm so grateful to have stumbled upon it. Braiding Sweetgrass is just as beautiful too.

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71 people found this helpful

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  • J Dowling
  • 2019-03-16

Pure lovely, insightful and inspired

This is one of the loveliest books I have listened to or read in a long time. A beautiful and profound discourse between humans and the world we inhabit. I loved this book. I would recommend it to anyone.

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64 people found this helpful

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  • Audy Meadow Davison LMT
  • 2019-01-07

Beyond moss into the balance of nature

It took me a while to get into this book. There is the wonder of the natural world but also the story of the destruction of a way a life that lived in balance with nature. Robin ying yangs back and forth. inviting us to see through her eyes the beauty and awe and harmony that she sees and then, bringing as vividly, the horror she feels at the violence and disrespect with which our culture tears all that beauty and delicate balance apart. I have to say, it was pure pleasure to listen to her speak of the first, nature's intricate ways, and vey hard at times to hear how we, our society,, belief system, and pursuit of gain, is cutting through the very fabric of nature that is there to sustain us. Not just us, as people, of course, but all that is, in this world.

This is very important book with concepts we must come to learn if we want to survive as a species.

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38 people found this helpful

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  • suzanna perrell
  • 2019-02-14

Good, but not comparable to Braiding Sweetgrass

This was a very good book. I can’t imagine a more enjoyable way to learn about mosses without going out and studying them in nature. However, I was hoping to, but did not, feel the same inspiration that I felt when listening to the author’s previous book: Braiding Sweetgrass, which is one of my favorite books.

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32 people found this helpful

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  • Baz 12345
  • 2019-01-25

Superb and moving

Highly recommended! This book, though titled Moss, sharpened my appreciation for all nature around me. It's a work of science and beauty. It's wonderful to read a well written book by a scientist -- they are not easy to find in Auduble. The book also deepened my connection with our planet and the need to preserve it, and my ambition to work toward greater human respect for all that we are blessed to have evolved in the midst of. With her background in scientific rigor, her intrepid and tactile outdoor exploration, and her ability to find and explain connections between all things, Robin Wall Kimmerer continues in the tradition of Alexander von Humboldt, the incredible subject of a new book by Andrea Wulf.

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  • Emily Cayer
  • 2019-02-07

A beautiful and gripping natural history.

I listened straight through on a drive across British Columbia. I was completely pulled in to her story, and loved how she intertwined the lives, gifts, and adaptations of moss with the lives of humanity and other beings. You can hear the passion and emotion of the author in her reading of her own words. Very powerful.

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15 people found this helpful

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 2019-03-29

May be good, but...

I couldn’t get past the narrator’s slow, too-placid delivery style, one better suited to leading a meditation or bedtime reading to a child. Sorry, if a narrator has almost put me to sleep twice before the end of the first chapter, I’m not going to finish the audiobook. I might give an ebook or physical version a try, though.

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12 people found this helpful

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  • Michal
  • 2019-01-05

wow

Poetic, precise, informative and just one of a kind. I'd love to thank the author personally. Leaving a 5 star review is the least I can do.

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9 people found this helpful

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  • sharla hill
  • 2019-02-07

love this book

Such a wonderful writer, love her books. listen to Braiding Sweetgrass also! Wonderful soft voice.

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7 people found this helpful

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  • Angela Eells
  • 2020-02-25

Excellent

Engaging, relaxing,and informative. Her voice is soothing, melodic, and I smiled when she did and felt angry with her. I'd love to pick her brain further.

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  • Jemasmi
  • 2023-07-01

Utterly beautiful

This requires at least 15 words but the trouble is I have no words…. A little masterpiece! Thank you Robin. I shall never look at misses again without tenderness and awe

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  • Anonymous User
  • 2021-12-30

Touching and beautiful

Ancient wisdom and science, interconnectedness of the living, woven into an intimate, sublime story.

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