Yeast life cycle length and reproduction

[klyph]

Help me understand what goes on with fermenting yeast. We pitch a certain number of yeast cells to perform the fermentation. How rapidly do the yeast reproduce? How long do the yeast live? I hear about "fresh" yeast and "exhausted and stressed" yeast, if the life cycle is short and they are constantly reproducing, with old cells dying off, this doesn't make sense to me. Maybe I need to read a book on this or something. Any books out there that aren't dryer than Safale?

 

[android]

this one came out recently. i haven't read it, but with the two authors, i'll bet they keep it fairly interesting:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0937381969/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20