Sign-In
Cart
The Ecology of Awareness: Field Notes from a Life of Noticing
Paperback
Publisher Price: $18.95
Publisher: Quiet Fire Press
Published: Sep 1 2026
Pages: 232
Weight: 0.60
Height: 0.53 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
Some things arrive without asking permission.
What does a mouse trembling in your hands beside a pair of nail clippers,
a dog who has climbed into the dryer to wait out a thunderstorm, and a hurricane
that took the house and the neighborhood have to do with ecology?
Everything, it turns out.
That is what an ecologist notices when he turns
his scientific lens inward, through fifty years of meditation.
For forty years, Robert F. Doren worked as a wetland ecologist,
studying how living systems function. He did not expect that the same
habits of attention in the natural world would one day turn inward, or that a lifetime of quiet
meditation would gradually reveal a pattern he had been living inside all
along.
The Ecology of Awareness is a memoir in field notes: patient, observant, and
unafraid to say that love and attention may be the same thing.
Robert Doren shares his practice of finding peace by blending compelling self-awareness with parallels of ecosystem science. His candid reflection, open heart, and ability to notice the small things-in nature and in people-is a lesson that illuminates moments of joy and hope.
- Susan Markley, Ph.D., Ecologist
Also in
Nature Writing
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Paperback
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate--Discoveries from a Secret World
Wohlleben, Peter
Paperback
The Story of Birds: A New History from Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present
Brusatte, Steve
Hardcover
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Hardcover
To Catch a Fish: Essays on the Joy, Frustration, Curiosity, and Allure of Fishing
Kurlansky, Mark
Hardcover
I Have This Thing for Flowers: Essays on the Roots of Relationships
Sawchyn, Alysia Li Ying
Hardcover
The Fullness of Time: Marking the Day by Birdsong, Blooms, Shadows, and Stars
Haynes, Cathy
Hardcover
World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
Nezhukumatathil, Aimee
Paperback
In the Range of Fire and Ice: A Human and Natural History of Washington's Cascades
Williams, David B.
Hardcover
Werner's Nomenclature of Colours: Adapted to Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Anatomy, and the Arts
Werner
Syme, Patrick
Hardcover
The Shortest History of Our Universe: The Unlikely Journey from the Big Bang to Us
Baker, David
Paperback
Outsider Animals: How the Creatures at the Margins of Our Lives Have the Most to Teach Us
Zuk, Marlene
Hardcover
Exploring the Maine Woods - The Hardy Family Expedition to the Machias Lakes
Carbone, Tommy
Hardy Eckstorm, Fannie
Paperback
The Language of Trees: How Trees Make Our World, Change Our Minds, and Rewild Our Lives
Holten, Katie
Paperback
The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas, Revised Edition
Dennis, Jerry
Paperback
The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative
Williams, Florence
Paperback
Dinosaurs at the Dinner Party: How an Eccentric Group of Victorians Discovered Prehistoric Creatures and Accidentally Upended the World
Dolnick, Edward
Paperback
Animal Diaspora: Decoding Ice Age Mysteries to Reveal the Future of Migration
Struzik, Edward
Hardcover
Seashells: A Compendium of Five Thousand of the World's Species
Callomon, Paul
Rosenberg, Gary
Hardcover
Braiding Sweetgrass / Una Trenza de Hierba Sagrada: Sabiduría Indígena, Conocimiento Científico Y Las Enseñanzas de Las Plantas
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Paperback
First Adirondackers: 12,000 Years of Indigenous Peoples in the Adirondack Uplands
Stager, Curt
Fadden, David Kanietakeron
Paperback
The Whispers of Rock: The Stories That Stone Tells about Our World and Our Lives
Khatwa, Anjana
Hardcover
Astonished by Beauty: A Field Guide to the Practice of Paying Attention
Fleischner, Thomas Lowe
Paperback
The Call of the Honeyguide: What Science Tells Us about How to Live Well with the Rest of Life
Dunn, Rob
Hardcover
The Language of Trees (Special Edition): How Trees Make Our World, Change Our Minds, and Rewild Our Lives
Holten, Katie
Hardcover
Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science
Bergland, Renée
Paperback
Werner's Nomenclature of Colours: Adapted to Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Anatomy, and the Arts
Syme, Patrick
Hardcover
What Is Intelligence?: Lessons from AI about Evolution, Computing, and Minds
Aguera Y. Arcas, Blaise
Paperback
The Elements of Life: How Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium Nourish Us and Threaten the Planet
Hoppenhaus, Kerstin
Hardcover
Bonefish Dreams: Stories, Facts, and Tips from Travels to the World's Best Destinations
Foster, Frank
Paperback
Fen, Bog and Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis
Proulx, Annie
Paperback
The California Naturalist Handbook, Second Edition
Edelman, Deborah
De Nevers, Greg
Merenlender, Adina
Paperback
We Love You: An Optimistic Guide to Life on a Rock Floating Through Space
Sullivan, Thomas
Min, Andy
Hardcover
House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest
Childs, Craig
Paperback
World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
Nezhukumatathil, Aimee
Hardcover
Permafrost Is an Archive: And Other Inheritances from the Alaska-Yukon Borderlands
Cook, Corinna
Paperback
The Secret Knowledge of Water: Discovering the Essence of the American Desert
Childs, Craig
Paperback
The Ornithologists' Library: The Books That Unlocked Our Knowledge of Birds
Bingham, Charlie
Hardcover
Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: The Fraught and Fascinating Biology of Climate Change
Hanson, Thor
Paperback
Seabirds as Sentinels: Auklets, Puffins, Shearwaters, and the View from Destruction Island
Wagner, Eric
Hardcover