Summary

Chapter 20 opens in Hampstead, London in 1928 and gives the backstory of Jack Good, who was born Isadore Jacob Gudak. Good, Stein’s mentor, has his head cryopreserved and Stein hopes to bring him back to life. As a child, Good liked to play with a German toy tin airplane that his father received as payment for fixing a watch. A young Good takes the plane out to play with it near a pond. The other kids call him “Judah” because he is Jewish. One of the boys calls Good a “dirty Jew” and then throws the plane into the pond (270). Good retrieves it, getting his clothing wet. Later, Good got a place at Cambridge because he showed promise in math. He became Jack Good, no longer identifying as a Polish Jew. After he graduated, Good got a job at Bletchley Park during WWII...