– Winner, Small Publishers' Adult Book of the Year, Australian Book Industry Awards, 2020
– Winner, The Ansari Institute's Randa and Sherif Nasr Book Prize on Religion & the World, United States, 2022
– Shortlisted, Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year, Australian Book Industry Awards, 2020
– Shortlisted, Non-fiction, Indie Book Awards, 2020
– Longlisted, Booktopia Favourite Australian Book, 2020
– Longlisted, Bookseller's Choice for Adult Nonfiction, Australian Booksellers Association, 2020
– Longlisted, Non-fiction, Indie Book Awards, Leading Edge, 2020
"An astonishing revelation of ancient Aboriginal wisdom as it applies to science and modern times. It's one of the best books I ever read, and I've been reading books for 80 years. There's nothing like it. It leaves you gasping. If you care about yourself, the world around you, and where you come from, you'd better read it. You won't put it down."
– Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of The Hidden Life of Dogs and Growing Old
"An extraordinary invitation into the world of the Dreaming [...] Unheralded."
– Melissa Lucashenko
"This is a book of cultural and philosophic intrigue. Read it."
– Bruce Pascoe, author of Dark Emu
"Radical ideas, bursting with reason."
– Tara June Winch
"After two hundred years, Indigenous thinkers are claiming the right to interpret Aboriginal Australia. It is a revolutionary change: here, in this compelling book, are its first fruits."
– Nicolas Rothwell
"An exhilarating meditation on different ways of knowing and being. Sand Talk is playful, profound and fiercely original."
– Billy Griffiths
"A familiar Indigenous sense of humour and generosity of sharing knowledge makes this book enjoyable to read [...] Like Dark Emu, Yunkaporta's book will have people talking."
– Books+Publishing (starred review)
"Tyson Yunkaporta's Sand Talk is an extraordinary reading experience. It's both philosophical and practical, and underpinned by a compassionate yet realistic humanity."
– Readings
"Asks the reader to emotionally connect to with not only the text, but connect to the author through the text."
– Geelong Advertiser
"Clever, funny, thought provoking, sensible and generous all at the same time. A must read!"
– Sydney Morning Herald
"Readable, digestible and quite frankly exciting."
– Fifth Estate
"Thought-provoking."
– New York Times
"Sand Talk unpacks for us something originally genius about Indigenous thought, which has for too long been dismissed as archaic folk knowledge from old oral cultures of interest only to academics and fetishists. This book shows how vital and alive and essential Indigenous ways of being and thinking are. Yunkaporta is so smart, funny, and accessible. Everyone needs to read this."
– Tommy Orange, bestselling author of There There
"Challenges us to think differently – and change the world [...] It is a timely and insightful read."
– Di Morrissey
"Perhaps the most unusual science book of the year [...] It's a dramatically new (to some) and absorbing way of engaging with the world, and stops just short of exasperation with self-important "western science"."
– Guardian
"A bold voice among a growing field of Australian Indigenous writing that challenged a lot of my assumptions."
– Dr Larry Marshall
