A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Stockholm: The Adrenaline-Fueled Adventures of an Accidental Scientist

by Robert J. Lefkowitz M.D., Randy Hall

Overview

The rollicking memoir from the cardiologist turned legendary scientist and winner of the Nobel Prize that revels in the joy of science and discovery.

Like Richard Feynman in the field of physics, Dr. Robert Lefkowitz is also known for being a larger-than-life character: a not-immodest, often self-deprecating, always entertaining raconteur. Indeed, when he received the Nobel Prize, the press corps in Sweden covered him intensively, describing him as “the happiest Laureate.”

In addition to his time as a physician, from being a "yellow beret" in the public health corps with Dr. Anthony Fauci to his time as a cardiologist, and his extraordinary transition to biochemistry, which would lead to his Nobel Prize win, Dr. Lefkowitz has ignited passion and curiosity as a fabled mentor and teacher.

But it's all in a day's work, as Lefkowitz reveals in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Stockholm, which is filled to the brim with anecdotes and energy, and gives us a glimpse into the life of one of today's leading scientists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781643136387
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	02/02/2021
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	497,790
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Robert J. Lefkowitz is a Nobel Prize-winning scientist (Chemistry, 2012) who is best known for showing how adrenaline works via stimulation of specific receptors. He was trained at Columbia, the NIH and Harvard before joining the faculty at Duke University and becoming an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In addition to being a researcher, Dr. Lefkowitz is a cardiologist as well as a cardiac patient.



Randy Hall was a post-doctoral trainee of Dr. Lefkowitz in the 1990’s and is now a Professor in the Emory University School of Medicine. He has published more than one hundred scientific papers and received major awards for his research. He is also a prize-winning educator with strong interests in science writing and public outreach about science and medicine.

Table of Contents

Preface xiii

1 Matters of the Heart 1

2 Young Man in a Hurry 7

3 The Mysteries of Medicine 15

4 "Who's in the House Tonight?" 27

5 The Yellow Berets 38

6 Breaking the Rules at Mass General 52

7 "Duke? I Never Heard of It." 65

8 Travelin' Man 76

9 Learning to Say No 85

10 The Howard Hughes Medical Institute 90

11 Two Thousand Frogs a Week 98

12 "Mystery Physician Saves Man's Life" 110

13 The Quest for the Holy Grail 123

14 The Rosetta Stone 136

15 How to Fix a Broken Heart 148

16 Against the Odds 158

17 "Well, It's Not the Nobel Prize…" 167

18 Jeopardy! 177

19 The International Scientific Prize Circuit 186

20 The Death Project 197

21 Eat More Chocolate, Win More Nobel Prizes 208

22 Nobel Week 220

23 The New Normal 239

24 The Art of Mentoring 249

25 Roots 262

Notes 269

Acknowledgments 303

Index 307

Editorial Reviews

12/07/2020

Physician and biochemist Lefkowitz debuts with a spirited account of his path from growing up in the Bronx in the 1950s to winning the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2012. A self-described “accidental scientist,” Lefkowitz was inspired to study medicine at age 12 when his father suffered a heart attack; by age 19, he had graduated from college and begun medical school. Lefkowitz recounts a pivotal lesson he learned in his third-year—“Data are just data. A story is something you impose on the data”—and how it came to inform the way he practiced medicine: closely listening to his patients’ stories became his hallmark. After medical school, Lefkowitz joined the faculty at Duke, where he mentored Brian Kobilka; their work on DNA proteins won them the Nobel Prize. He and Kobilka were “treated like rock stars” during the weeklong Nobel celebration, of which he notes:“There is nothing in the United States that compares to the Nobel Day events in Sweden.” Though the narrative gets occasionally bogged down in scientific terminology, this vivid tale mostly shines with personality. Rarely has science been treated with such a winning blend of humor and humanity. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Lefkowitz unveils the teamwork, persistence, and labors of love that go into living a life of significance. By turns funny and moving, this book has the power to inspire.

Mike Krzyzewski

Robert Lefkowitz’s memoir is a rollicking, absorbing read. It turns out many funny things happened on his way to Stockholm. Beautifully written, this book demonstrates the importance of humor, humility, and humanity in the pursuit of scientific discovery."

Jerry Speyer

Lefkowitz provides joyous remembrance of his amazing career as a physician-scientist. Interlaced with vignettes of personal sacrifice, growth, and friendship is the story of the seminal discoveries that culminated in science’s highest award. A beautiful story of family, hard work, and steadfast optimism.

Christine Seidman

More than just a heartwarming and thrilling chronicle of a great physician-scientist, Lefkowitz has written a story-based leadership guide for any aspiring mentor. A testament to the power of building enduring excellence by believing in, championing, and developing others.

Sanyin Siang

In this engaging and often rollicking tale, Bob Lefkowitz recounts how the Vietnam War transformed him from a dedicated young physician into an enthusiastic, ambitious, and highly successful scientist whose discoveries have altered our understanding of cell function and approaches to drug development. Arriving at a time when the need to convert physicians into scientists is greater than ever, this book can do more than just entertain and instruct: it can inspire young doctors to remake their careers.

Harold Varmus

"A deeply personal perspective of events, people, thoughts, and actions that have created an era of major scientific breakthroughs. Full of insights and revelations about the milieu that underlies today’s biomedical revolution, from a key participant. Written with a candor and style that make Bob Lefkowitz’s life adventures as a physician-scientist a delight to read.

Stanley N. Cohen

Lighthearted, yet profoundly personal and moving, Lefkowitz’s memoir shares the secret recipe for winning a Nobel prize—two parts genius, one part audacity in challenging authority, one part insightful and supportive mentoring, a splash of good luck, and ten parts resilience and persistence. Bob Lefkowitz is at the top of the list of the extraordinary cadre of physicians turned scientists who ushered in the modern biotechnology revolution.

Barry S. Coller

Lefkowitz appreciates the power of storytelling, both at the bedside in making diagnoses and at the bench in generating hypotheses. Full of vignettes that are sometimes embarrassingly honest, at other times laugh-out-loud humorous, but always infused with his own special brew of humility and hubris. An informative and entertaining read.

Helen H. Hobbs

In this entertaining book, Nobelist Bob Lefkowitz recounts how he became a passionate and renowned physician-scientist. He unveils the secret to his scientific stardom in a series of engrossing stories spanning his fifty-year career. No tale is left untold—many are amusing, some might raise a few eyebrows.

Joseph L. Goldstein

"The odds of a scrappy kid growing up in the Bronx winning a Nobel Prize are overwhelmingly small. How Bob Lefkowitz managed to do this is revealed in this delightfully rich and moving book allowing the reader to understand Bob’s intelligence, warmth, and complexity. If you read one book this year, choose this one. It will fill you with joy, hope, and give you a new friend.

Ralph Snyderman

A tribute to teamwork that aims to inspire the young generation of scientists to take a similar journey. This book shows that making a breakthrough discovery, changing a paradigm, and using science as a tool to change people’s lives is possible, while also emphasizing that such achievements are not made by angels but by human beings like all of us.

Aaron Ciechanover

A spell-binding memoir, packed with deep insights and charged with the thrill of discovery. This is a tale told from the pinnacle of human achievement, that also serves as a master-class in humility and overcoming tragedy—all interwoven with laugh-out-loud anecdotes. Lefkowitz is a brilliant and charming storyteller, with an indomitable passion for living, and wisdom for the ages.

Karl Deisseroth

Lefkowitz is not only a gifted scientist, but also a gifted story-teller. From the Yankees to Duke basketball to the game show Jeopardy through the upper echelons of science on his way to a Nobel Prize, he proves that science can be fun and rewarding for himself, the field, and his patients."

Brian Druker

A blend of comedy, history, and tragedy, this book is much more than a delightfully amusing tale of a bright kid from the Bronx who ultimately wins a Nobel Prize. Bob Lefkowitz’s message is of the utmost importance. U.S. taxpayer dollars funded a unique cadre of young physicians—'the Yellow Berets’—whose discoveries have led to revolutionary therapies for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, impotence, neurodegeneration, HIV, and coronavirus, all while training the next generation of medical scientists. Reading this book shows that investments in science will continue to save the world.

Peter Agre

"Cardiologist-turned-biochemist, Robert Lefkowitz won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for showing how adrenaline works through stimulation of specific receptors, with huge implications for drug discovery. Yet he calls himself 'an accidental scientist,' because he trained as a physician. Instead of being drafted to the Vietnam War, he served at the US National Institutes of Health. His autobiography is a vividly anecdotal account, influenced by a supervisor’s lesson that data do not tell a story: 'A story is something you impose on the data.'"

NATURE - Andrew Robinson

"Lefkowitz is an avid and inveterate storyteller. Told with humor and humility, what shines through most is his love of stories. His passion for science and discovery, for helping people, and for celebrating stories is infectious."

Booklist

How does a brilliant young physician accidentally get hooked on research? Bob Lefkowitz's life-altering shift changed not only his life but the lives of hundreds of his trainees. From the dazzling way adrenaline controls critical body functions to the thrill of his Nobel Prize win, this engaging book will help you better understand how physician scientists dedicate their careers to understanding human biology and enhancing human health."

P. Roy Vagelos

An engaging Nobel Prize-winning journey of a life in medicine and science. Joyous, insightful, and irreverent, Lefkowitz describes the enormous impediments to challenging established dogma and legendary elders as well as the art and satisfaction of mentoring young scientists. For both lay readers and professional scientists, this book presents a narrative that will delight and that offers a goldmine of wisdom.

Robert Horvitz

Lefkowitz’s life is testament to the joy of science. The book is a page-turner, a riveting account of a life well-lived. It is a story of stories, a tale of greatness.

Roger D. Kornberg

Bob Lefkowitz is a legend in his own time. In addition to his clinical background as an MD and acknowledged scientific mettle resulting in a Nobel Prize, he is a renowned raconteur. Bob also has an excellent sense of humor, and these twin skills have made him a highly sought-after public speaker. They are both on vivid display in this highly readable and entertaining autobiography, which begins with his childhood in the Bronx and embraces his long and distinguished career.

Michael Rosbash