Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. When you look at the “Suggestions for Further Reading” at the end of the book, what is your reaction—can you imagine reading any of the books on this list? What does this say about what you liked or disliked about Gathering Moss?

2. Kimmerer’s book takes both an objective and subjective approach to mosses. Which approach resonated with you more? Did you learn valuable things from both approaches?

3. Have you read Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants or The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World? What common themes and techniques do you see between these works and Gathering Moss?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. How much interest did you have in mosses before reading this book? Do you find yourself looking at them or thinking about them in new ways, now that you have read Gathering Moss?

2. How would you sum up Kimmerer’s beliefs about ethical interactions with the environment? Which of these ideas do you most strongly agree or disagree with?

3. How would you sum up Kimmerer’s beliefs about what “science” is? Do you share her perspective, or not?

4. What lessons have you, personally, learned from interacting with nature? Is this a valuable source of education in your life?

5. Obviously, Kimmerer is particularly fond of mosses. Is there some aspect of the natural world that you are particularly fond of? Why is it intriguing to you? Do most other people share this interest, or do you think your interest is unusual?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. What other aspects of the natural world do you think are often overlooked? What do your answers suggest about cultural values?

2. What does mainstream science have to say about the health benefits of the kind of intimate relationship with the land that Kimmerer promotes? How does Western science explain these benefits? What might Kimmerer add to this explanation?

3. What are some of the recent projects Indigenous groups have created to try to care for the environment? How do these projects reflect Indigenous values and an Indigenous approach to science?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. How would you describe the structure that most of the essays share? Which of Kimmerer’s themes does this structure help to develop?

2. Based on her approach to science writing, her narrative voice, and the personal information Kimmerer shares in her essays, how would you describe her personality?

3. What are Kimmerer’s main arguments in this text? How does she support them using ethos, logos, and pathos?

4. How do the symbols Kimmerer uses in this book—the lens and the medicine bag, the Water Drum, circles, and so on—support her themes?

5. How would you describe the book’s tone and mood? How does Kimmerer’s language —particularly her use of techniques like imagery, personification, and anthropomorphism—help to shape this tone and mood?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. Choose a passage where Kimmerer anthropomorphizes moss in order to impute a subjective experience to it—feelings of homesickness, for instance. Write a monologue from the moss’s perspective about this experience.

2. If you were to write an essay about the natural world in the style that Kimmerer uses here—in which personal anecdotes and observations are interwoven with scientific information—what element of the natural world would you write about? What personal stories would you choose? What main ideas—about the natural world and human life—would your essay seek to convey?

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