Molds, mushrooms, and medicines Our lifelong relationship with fungi

Money (Miami Univ.), a mycologist and science writer, brings awareness to humans' lifelong relationship with fungi in his latest book, Molds, Mushrooms, and Medicines. The text is divided into two main parts, focusing on how we interact with fungi and how they affect us both internally (skin, lungs, brain, and gut) and externally in relation to our diets, medicines, and environmental toxins. Money explores fungi that afflict us with conditions such as ringworm, dandruff, and athlete's foot, as well as those in our lungs causing asthma, allergies, and infections. He also delves into the microorganisms responsible for our bread, cheese, and wine, and includes topics such as mushroom coffee, psilocybin for its psychedelic properties, and the mysteries of poisonous mushrooms. Well researched, informative, and yet incredibly accessible and at times quite humorous, Money's book reminds readers of the importance of relying on evidence when making claims about curative and restorative treatments found in published scholarship. Readers interested in ecology, mycology, biology, microbiology, nutrition, and natural health will find this book an enjoyable and informative addition to their research. Comprehensive references and notes accompany each chapter's illustrations. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --Zemirah G Ngow, University of California San Diego

Emphasizing the prowess of fungi as essential biological recyclers, mycologist Money (The Rise of Yeast, 2018) zealously decrees, "Fungi are the resurrection and the life." His reverence for these organisms extends to human-fungal interactions, including our mycobiome (fungi that reside on our skin and inhabit our gut). First, the good: "domesticated" yeasts are used in baking, brewing, and cheesemaking. Some antibiotics, including penicillin, were initially derived from molds. Mycoprotein can be used as a meat substitute. Next, the bad: there are 300 types of disease-causing fungi--bothersome mycoses (athlete's foot, yeast vaginitis) and dangerous infections (nightmarish flesh-destroying mucormycosis, deadly Candida auris). While many mushrooms are tasty, some are toxic (and have cautionary names like death cap and poison coral fire). And then there's the unpleasant: black mold in the shower, mold spots on food. Money's writing is rich, educational, and at times whimsical. He describes bathrooms as "mycological playgrounds." Musing on mushrooms that contain the psychedelic substance psilocybin, he muses, "Magic mushrooms light up the brain like fireflies in a meadow." A fine introduction to a formidable form of life.