Acknowledgments

This book is dedicated to my parents. They have cultivated within me with the independence, dedication, and confidence that I needed to write this book. Likewise, they’ve encouraged me to follow my own decisions, never mandating what I should do. They’ve been wholly supportive in just about every decision I’ve made in my life, even as they’re gritting their teeth as I spend weekends writing versus wooing a potential wife. I would be nowhere without them, and I will be eternally grateful. I also thank my sister, Kavya, who is unafraid to intellectually spar with me and helped develop my thinking on these topics. She was the piece of flint that kindled After Meat as showcased in the introductory story in Chapter 1.

I would like to thank my postdoctoral research mentor, Uwe Sauer. Never before has anyone been so honest and direct with me. I was jarred and disheartened at first, but ultimately, I became a better scientist and thinker under his mentorship. Appreciating the positive impact, the values of honesty and directness are thoroughly instilled throughout this book. In Uwe’s lab, I befriended Elad Noor. Elad is one of the deepest, most abled thinkers I’ve ever met, and many ideas in After Meat can be pinpointed to a conversation with him. Similarly, I thank my doctoral advisor, Keith EJ Tyo. Despite nominally being an “applied” scientist, Keith continually champions scientific understanding and implores students not merely to be satisfied with what they’ve been told—they need to probe deeper and find additional explanations.

I thank my editors Brandon Crowther, Michael Sanders, and Genevieve Morgan. Brandon reviewed and edited the initial manuscript after every three chapters were written. He positively affected the trajectory of the book and helped clarify, refine, and even repudiate many of the arguments. I thank Michael Sanders for helping take the beta-version of this book to a polished, well-produced work. Michael had the overwhelming task of bringing forth the big picture of a complicated tome that spanned many disparate, difficult topics. Only then could he help with the reshaping and specific revisions that ensued afterward. Not many editors can do what Michael so deftly accomplished, and I’m sincerely thankful to be connected to him. Genevieve consumed a lengthy, complicated work in a short amount of time. She sharpened the writing, improved the explanations, and reinforced the arguments.

I thank a number of beta readers who provided feedback on a preliminary version of After Meat including Jeffray Behr, Ilana Taub, Elad Noor, Sarah Edwards, Nate Crosser, Sarah May, Peter Su, Susan J. Miller, Edward Candales, Casey Riordan, Blake Byrne, Will Roderick, Devi Sekar, Bryanna Foote, L. Vinod Reddy, Lauren Adeelar, and Anonymous Reader One.

Many have also helped with the researching of this book. Karol Orzechowski of Faunanalytics provided valuable resources about the manner in which animal carcasses are divvied up and distributed. Ron Sender and Ron Milo provided a lot of literature and help with the nitrogen balance section. I thank Amy Huang of the Good Food Institute for helping me understand the state of funding for alternative foods at the academic level.

I also thank many individuals who helped to push me to write and publish this book. I was incredibly fortunate to connect with Blake Byrne of the Good Food Institute. Blake has connected me to helpful contacts, and our routine conversations have seeped into the pages here. I was fortunate enough to meet vegan fashion designer Jill Fraser in my local writers’ group. She has taken whatever lengths she can to connect me with many to help on this endeavor. Mark Warner, Paul Shapiro, Jacy Reese, Magnus Vinding, Gidon Eshel, Sascha Camilli, Anna Akbari, and Beth Clevenger have discussed the publication process with me in some way, directly or indirectly affecting the end product. I thank Cary Hayner, Jesse Lou, Sacha Laurin, Alifia Merchant, and Kavya Sekar for helping me with publicity preparation. Frank Doyle III and Suckjoon Jun were kind of enough to grant the use of their names in Appendix A and Chapter 9, respectively.

Lastly, I would not have been emboldened to pursue this book without some intellectuals and non-fiction authors pioneering the way. Peter Singer energized the animal welfare movement with his 1975 book Animal Liberation. Even though I only read the book after becoming vegan, it’s obvious that Singer’s ideas have diffused their way into me and my thinking. His efforts demonstrate how knowledge can be absorbed even without direct contact. Sam Harris has convinced me that one can indeed win over people with superior arguments and non-fiction books. Harris also taught me that knowledge isn’t siloed in specific domains; we should all freely explore other areas, even outside of our ostensible purview. Yuval Noah Harari wrote two impressive books (Sapiens and Homo Deus) that draw insightful inferences from looking at many domains in tandem, a modus influential to After Meat. Harari has also highlighted the problem of animal agriculture prominently. Steven Pinker has buoyed my feelings about human progress, that we have indeed made improvements and continue to do so. Pinker is also the best non-fiction writer I’ve encountered. He’s inspired me to write clearly and to respect the intelligence of my audience. Finally, David Deutsch’s The Beginning of Infinity has upended my worldview entirely; it changed how I think about how new knowledge/technology is generated, how we humans are uniquely positioned to solve problems and drive progress, and how I want to lead my life from now on. I still think about The Beginning of Infinity nearly every day. In many ways, After Meat can be viewed as a progeny of The Beginning of Infinity, taking direct lessons to tackle the problems of animal technology.