The Rise of Yeast

The great Victorian biologist Thomas Huxley once wrote, I know of no familiar substance forming part of our every-day knowledge and experience, the examination of which, with a little care, tends to open up such very considerable issues as does yeast. Huxley was right. Beneath the very foundations of human civilization lies yeast--also known as the sugar fungus. Yeast is responsible for fermenting our alcohol and providing us with bread--the very staples of life. Moreover, it has proven instrumental in helping cell biologists and geneticists understand how living things work, manufacturing life-saving drugs, and producing biofuels that could help save the planet from global warming.

In The Rise of Yeast, Nicholas P. Money--author of Mushroom and The Amoeba in the Room--argues that we cannot ascribe too much importance to yeast, and that its discovery and controlled use profoundly altered human history. Humans knew what yeast did long before they knew what it was. It was not until Louis Pasteur's experiments in the 1860s that scientists even acknowledged its classification as a fungus. A compelling blend of science, history, and sociology The Rise of Yeast explores the rich, strange, and utterly symbiotic relationship between people and yeast, a stunning and immensely readable account that takes us back to the roots of human history.

"[The author] argues that we cannot ascribe too much importance to yeast, and that its discovery and controlled use profoundly altered human history"--Amazon.com.

The Rise of Yeast manages to effortlessly blend popular and technical science writing... Highly recommended. -- CHOICE

Botanist Nicholas Money's effervescent tour is packed with delights, such as illustrations by Charles Tulasne, the Audubon of fungi, or the revelation that yeasts and humans share a common ancestor (and hundreds of genes). -- Barbara Kiser, Nature

Yeast rises our bread, ferments our beer, wine, and spirits, perfumes our fruit, nourishes our bodies, makes us bold in love, foments chaos, powers our cars, and unlocks the soul. We humans tend to think that we rule the earth, but the evidence on our behalf is scant. This fascinating book unlocks the mysteries of our world's true masters, which were here before we walked, will be here when we're gone, and, in the meantime, help make our time on the planet a lot more fun and infinitely more delicious. -- Garrett Oliver, Brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery, Editor-in-Chief, The Oxford Companion to Beer

Wildly entertaining, extremely interesting, educational and a joy to read. -- Elentarri's Book Blog

An amazing story, about an amazing people-non-person relationship (and by an amazing writer): Surely, Money's The Rise of Yeast is destined to be a classic -- and a thoroughly deserving award-winner! -- Botany One

The Rise of Yeast is a neat little book that elegantly covers a lot of ground... [It] gives many reasons why you should care more about little single-celled fungi. -- Leon Vlieger, NHBS