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Numinosity: A New England Forester's Search for the Ineffable
There are moments in our lives where a door of awareness opens, if only for a brief second. These are the moments that are simply impossible to express, but moments that have captured us for all time.
Join a New England forester on a fifty-year quest for something larger than all of us. Here are a series of essays, stories and poems emerging from the natural world, but always connected to a life that has had its common share of illumination and darkness, hope and despair, love and loss, ambition and failure, resistance and acceptance, anger and peace. Marking timber for harvest becomes a meditation on the unique connection between responsibility to the natural world and awareness of self and others. A shadow in the woods, a voice on the wind opens up the mystery inherent in all the wisdom traditions. The impact of a sudden death on a logging crew lingers for decades, demanding a resolution between hubris and fate. The crushing retreat of the United States from climate science and advocacy manifests in a longing for the precise language of another time when we were closer to the natural cycles of life.
Join a New England forester on a fifty-year quest for something larger than all of us. Here are a series of essays, stories and poems emerging from the natural world, but always connected to a life that has had its common share of illumination and darkness, hope and despair, love and loss, ambition and failure, resistance and acceptance, anger and peace. Marking timber for harvest becomes a meditation on the unique connection between responsibility to the natural world and awareness of self and others. A shadow in the woods, a voice on the wind opens up the mystery inherent in all the wisdom traditions. The impact of a sudden death on a logging crew lingers for decades, demanding a resolution between hubris and fate. The crushing retreat of the United States from climate science and advocacy manifests in a longing for the precise language of another time when we were closer to the natural cycles of life.
68 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 9, 2026
About the author
Robert T. Perschel
2 booksI formed a deep connection to the natural world very early in life, beginning a journey that continues today. My experiences in nature have shaped my thinking, expanded my awareness and offered me new perspectives.
To better understand them, I studied psychology and wisdom traditions and integrated these insights into a new leadership model in forestry and large-scale land conservation.
Though I’ve long felt compelled to express these experiences, language often feels inadequate – ineffable best captures that frustration. Poetry helps. The poems, stories and essays in Numinosity are part of that journey…
“Robert Perschel has helped conserve six million acres of New England’s forest, during his four decades as a professional forester. “
His vision is a closer connection to the natural world and a region consisting of wild reserves surrounded by exceptionally managed forests that can produce the climate-friendly products needed in an era of changing climate. He has worked for the forest industry, as a consulting forester, and led The Wilderness Society’s Land Ethic and Network of Wildlands Programs. He chaired the 53-member Northern Forest Alliance and helped found the Forest Stewards Guild, a national organization of ecologically focused foresters. The Guild stands out as the only professional society to place an ethical responsibility to the land first and foremost in its code of ethics. More recently, as Executive Director of the New England Forestry Foundation, he led the creation of Exemplary Forestry standards, utilizing climate smart management techniques to offset 30 percent of the New England region’s carbon emissions.
Currently, as a speaker and author, he is dedicated to promoting a bioeconomy that emphasizes the construction of tall buildings using engineered wood. His work focuses on replacing materials with high fossil fuel content, such as plastic, steel, and concrete, with sustainably sourced and climate-resilient forest products. Bob lives in an oak forest on the north shore of the island of Martha’s Vineyard.
To better understand them, I studied psychology and wisdom traditions and integrated these insights into a new leadership model in forestry and large-scale land conservation.
Though I’ve long felt compelled to express these experiences, language often feels inadequate – ineffable best captures that frustration. Poetry helps. The poems, stories and essays in Numinosity are part of that journey…
“Robert Perschel has helped conserve six million acres of New England’s forest, during his four decades as a professional forester. “
His vision is a closer connection to the natural world and a region consisting of wild reserves surrounded by exceptionally managed forests that can produce the climate-friendly products needed in an era of changing climate. He has worked for the forest industry, as a consulting forester, and led The Wilderness Society’s Land Ethic and Network of Wildlands Programs. He chaired the 53-member Northern Forest Alliance and helped found the Forest Stewards Guild, a national organization of ecologically focused foresters. The Guild stands out as the only professional society to place an ethical responsibility to the land first and foremost in its code of ethics. More recently, as Executive Director of the New England Forestry Foundation, he led the creation of Exemplary Forestry standards, utilizing climate smart management techniques to offset 30 percent of the New England region’s carbon emissions.
Currently, as a speaker and author, he is dedicated to promoting a bioeconomy that emphasizes the construction of tall buildings using engineered wood. His work focuses on replacing materials with high fossil fuel content, such as plastic, steel, and concrete, with sustainably sourced and climate-resilient forest products. Bob lives in an oak forest on the north shore of the island of Martha’s Vineyard.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 21, 2026
With a nod to another origin story, Bob Perschel writes that it was biting into an apple, plucked from a tree in his grandfather’s orchard, that defined his world view: “The life of that tree flowed through me and…I was never to look at the world in quite the same way again.”
His new book, “Numinosity,” a collection of charming short essays and crisp, evocative poems, delves into his personal, and our collective, connection to trees, forests, and nature. This is a book filled with respect and affection for nature and concern that we act responsibly.
I especially like the New England Triptych, three poems reflecting on long held myths about forest denizens.
Leave this book by the chair near your woodstove or the one on your screened-in porch to enjoy in a moment of quiet.
His new book, “Numinosity,” a collection of charming short essays and crisp, evocative poems, delves into his personal, and our collective, connection to trees, forests, and nature. This is a book filled with respect and affection for nature and concern that we act responsibly.
I especially like the New England Triptych, three poems reflecting on long held myths about forest denizens.
Leave this book by the chair near your woodstove or the one on your screened-in porch to enjoy in a moment of quiet.
May 13, 2026
The musings, stories and wisdom of a man who spent thousands of hours in the company of trees, this little book is a gem. Without being preachy or overly scientific, this mixture of poetry and prose speaks directly to the soul. It reminds us that each of us has a unique and intimate relationship with what nature offers us. A delicacy for anyone who is passionate about nature and the environment.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews