Life in the Border Layer. The Natural and Cultural History of Mosses

Inhabiting the borders of our ordinary perception, mosses are a common yet unnoticed element of the natural world. We rarely notice them in the cracks of urban asphalt, on tree trunks, or the surfaces of stones. The book by bryologist Robin Wall Kimmerer is neither a guide to identification nor a scientific treatise. Rather, it is a series of interconnected personal essays about the life of mosses, intertwined with the lives of countless other beings, from salmon and hummingbirds to fungi, bacteria, and rural gardeners. Kimmerer engagingly explains the biology of mosses while contemplating what these remarkable organisms can teach us. Drawing on her diverse experience as a scientist, mother, Native American, and professional observer accustomed to looking closely to see something important, Robin Wall Kimmerer tells various stories of mosses in scientific terms, but also within the frameworks of ways of knowing characteristic of Indigenous Indian tribes. In her book, the natural history and cultural relations of mosses become a powerful metaphor for a way of life in the world.