Books

BOOKS

Nik’s first book, Mr. Bloomfield's Orchard, was published in 2002. Molds, Mushrooms, and Medicine: Our Lifelong Relationship with Fungi was published by Princeton in March 2024.


The Mycologist: The Diary of Bartholomew Leach, Professor of Natural Philosophy

MOLDS, MUSHROOMS, AND MEDICINES

Non-fiction

Molds, Mushrooms, and Medicines: Our Lifelong Relationship with Fungi
2024 Princeton University Press

From beneficial yeasts that aid digestion to toxic molds that cause disease, we are constantly navigating a world filled with fungi. Molds, Mushrooms, and Medicines explores the amazing ways fungi interact with our bodies, showing how our health and well-being depend on an immense ecosystem of yeasts and molds inside and all around us.


The Mycologist: The Diary of Bartholomew Leach, Professor of Natural Philosophy

NATURE FAST AND NATURE SLOW

Non-fiction
Nature Fast and Nature Slow: How Life Works, from Fractions of a Second to Billions of Years
2021 Reaktion Books, London.
This book is a vision of biology set within the entire timescale of the universe. It is about the timing of life, from microsecond movements to evolutionary changes over millions of years. Human consciousness is riveted to seconds, but a split-second time delay in perception means that we are unaware of anything until it has already happened. We live in the very recent past. Over longer timescales, this book examines the lifespans of the oldest organisms, prospects for human life extension, the evolution of whales and turtles, and the explosive beginning of life 4 billion years ago. With its poetry, social commentary and humour, this book will appeal to everyone interested in the natural world.

The Mycologist: The Diary of Bartholomew Leach, Professor of Natural Philosophy

THE SELFISH APE

Non-fiction
The Selfish Ape: Human Nature ad Our Path to Extinction
2019 Reaktion Books, London.
Weaving together stories of science and sociology, The Selfish Ape offers a refreshing response to common fantasies about the ascent of humanity. Rather than imagining modern humans as a species with godlike powers, or Homo deus, Nicholas P. Money recasts us as Homo narcissus—paragons of self-absorption. This exhilarating story offers an immense sweep of modern biology, leading readers from earth’s unexceptional location in the cosmos to the story of our microbial origins and the inner workings of the human body. It explores human genetics, reproduction, brain function, and ageing, creating an enlightened view of man as a brilliantly inventive, yet self-destructive animal. Read an excerpt from The Selfish Ape

The Mycologist: The Diary of Bartholomew Leach, Professor of Natural Philosophy

THE RISE OF YEAST

Non-fiction
The Rise of Yeast: How the Sugar Fungus Shaped Civilization 
2018 Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York. 
This book is a celebration of yeast, our favorite microorganism and partner in brewing, winemaking, and baking. It is the story of the 10,000-year-old marriage between humans and yeast that led to agricultural settlement and served as a major factor in the development of civilization. We domesticated yeast, and yeast domesticated us.
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The Mycologist: The Diary of Bartholomew Leach, Professor of Natural Philosophy

THE MYCOLOGIST

Fiction
The Mycologist: The Diary of Bartholomew Leach, Professor of Natural Philosophy. 
2017 Wooster Book Company, Wooster, Ohio. 
Bartholomew Leach was a professor at Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio before the Civil War. He formulated his theory of Creation by Natural Perfection in the late 1850s, but discovered, to his great disappointment, that he had been trumped by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. In southwestern Ohio, Leach became known for his rejection of biblical teachings on creation and was vilified by many in his community. History is kinder to his memory. As a conductor on the Underground Railroad, it is clear that Professor Leach was viewed as a living saint by the escaped slaves whose passages he lubricated with such selfless heroism. 
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Mushrooms: A Natural and Cultural History

MUSHROOMS: A NATURAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY

Non-fiction
Mushrooms: A Natural and Cultural History. 
2017 Reaktion Books, London.
Mushrooms are loved, despised, feared, and misunderstood; they occupy a special place in human consciousness, embedded in childhood through fairy tales, movies, and video games. This book introduces mushroom mythology and science, the history of our interactions with these fungi, and the ways that humans use mushrooms as food, medicines, and recreational drugs. The natural history is supplemented with profiles of the mycologists who advanced the study of the fungi. As paragons of eccentricity, these individuals are peerless.


Fungi A very short introduction

FUNGI: A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION

Non-fiction 
Fungi: A Very Short Introduction. 
2016 Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Fungi are everywhere and will outlive us by an eternity.

the fungi

THE FUNGI

Non-fiction 
Watkinson, S. C., Boddy, L. and N. P. Money
The Fungi, 3rd edition. 
2016 Academic Press, Amsterdam.
Written with two distinguished British mycologists, this is the only text that engages readers with the great sweep of modern fungal biology. 

micro biology a very short introduction

MICROBIOLOGY: A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION

Non-fiction 
Microbiology: A Very Short Introduction.
2014 Oxford University Press, Oxford.
A succinct overview of the biology of viruses, bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotic microbes.

THE AMOEBA IN THE ROOM

THE AMOEBA IN THE ROOM: LIVES OF THE MICROBES

Non-fiction 
The Amoeba in the Room: Lives of the Microbes. 
2014 Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York. 
Animals and plants are the least part of life. Earth is a microbial planet and all biology is microbiology.

MUSHROOM

MUSHROOM

Non-fiction 
Mushroom. 
2011 Oxford University Press, New York.
Mushrooms are fungal sex organs and the most wondrous inventions of the last billion years of evolutionary history on earth.

THE TRIUMPH OF FUNGI A ROTTEN HISTORY

THE TRIUMPH OF THE FUNGI: A ROTTEN HISTORY

Non-fiction 
The Triumph of the Fungi: A Rotten History. 
2007 Oxford University Press, New York.
The tiniest wound, just a nick in the bark; spores drift in from the moist forest air; later, the stem swells and ruptures; the sap-flow system is crippled and leaves are shed. Bereft of its plumbing and solar panels, the crown of the gigantic, alabaster ghost sways brittle in the breeze. When this story was repeated 3 billion times, the American chestnut that had dominated the eastern woods for more than 50,000 years was exterminated. 

CARPET MONSTERS AND KILLER SPORES

CARPET MONSTERS AND KILLER SPORES: 
A NATURAL HISTORY OF TOXIC MOLD

Non-fiction 
Carpet Monsters and Killer Spores: A Natural History of Toxic Mold. 
2004 Oxford University Press, New York.
This book project began as an investigative report on the link between mold exposure and cases of lung bleeding in infants and grew into a broader biomedical inquiry on the health effects of spore inhalation.   

MR BLOOMFIELDS ORCHARD

MR. BLOOMFIELD'S ORCHARD:THE MYSTERIOUS WORLD OF MUSHROOMS, MOLDS & MYCOLOGISTS

Non-fiction 
Mr. Bloomfield’s Orchard. The Mysterious World of Mushrooms, Molds, and Mycologists. 2002 Oxford University Press, New York.
In the water-saturated atmosphere of the untended apple orchard next to my childhood home, trees and fruit were devoured by bitter rot, black rot, blossom end rot, canker, rust, powdery mildew, rubbery wood, and scab.  
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