Back in 1985, while researching my first book, Invisible Frontiers, I had a lunchtime appointment with Robert Swanson, then president and CEO of Genentech. While en route to the interview, I found myself snarled in one of those now-familiar traffic jams on southbound U.S. 101-traffic jams created in part by the biotech revolution Swanson helped launch. I arrived an hour and a half late, in an advanced state of mortification, but Swanson betrayed not the slightest irritation. We repaired to the cafeteria, where he recalled the early days at Genentech with passion and humor.

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