The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Rating = ****

In The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer takes the simple act of picking berries and 
expands it to a discussion of the gift economies of indigenous Americans, current day 
examples of gift economies, how capitalism is destroying the world, and what we can 
learn from the synchronicity of the natural world, which is really one big gift 
economy.

In a gift economy, abundance is the source of power. Juneberry bushes win by producing 
an excess of berries which birds (and people) will consume, spreading seeds and the 
berries DNA in the process. Scarcity is a bad thing, and when it happens via drought or 
whatever, the pain is distributed across the entire ecosystem. Contrast that with 
extractive capitalism, where scarcity is artificially created and maintained to benefit 
the few, at the expense of the many.

The reality is that capitalism is not going anywhere, so she also talks about how 
sharing abundance can also lead to profit. However, when you grow profit by sharing 
abundance you are winning by building community and relationships, not by accumulating 
goods.

It's a slim book that you can probably knock out in an evening, but it will leave you 
with a lot to think about.