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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why did Sacks find beauty as well as fear in darkness?
(a) There was hope for an end.
(b) There was hope for a new light.
(c) The darkness was guided by God.
(d) The darkness was part of human experience.

2. Once he began walking again, what time had arrived for Sacks?
(a) The time for doing.
(b) The time for community.
(c) The time for thinking.
(d) The time for great changes.

3. How does Sack describe his thoughts during the first moments of standing again?
(a) He was entering the world of the patient from the world of the dead.
(b) His life had been recreated.
(c) The world was again possible.
(d) He was too excited to remember his thoughts.

4. What colors were the Head books which Sacks bought?
(a) Black and white.
(b) Red and white.
(c) Green and red.
(d) Yellow and purple.

5. What was scheduled for Wednesday the 11th?
(a) Therapy would become quite intense.
(b) Sacks would get out of bed and walk.
(c) The temporary leg cast would be removed.
(d) Sacks would move from the hospital to the convalescent home.

6. How do we understand the concepts of time and space?
(a) In reference to the people around us.
(b) In context of our scientific understanding.
(c) In reference to ourselves.
(d) In reference to the physical world.

7. If an outsider were to observe the patients at the convalescent home, what would he have seen?
(a) Lightheartedness and frivolity.
(b) Artificial friendships.
(c) Darkness and secrecy.
(d) Depth and secrecy.

8. When did scotoma overwhelm Sacks the most?
(a) When he was happy.
(b) When he was tired.
(c) At night.
(d) Early afternoon.

9. Following the book fair, why did Sacks take the slow train from Boston to New York?
(a) He had to kill time before an evening appointment.
(b) He wanted to begin reading Head's books.
(c) He did not have enough money for the faster train.
(d) He wanted to enjoy life at a slow pace.

10. While under the spinal anesthesia, how did Sacks perceive his body?
(a) His feet were far away.
(b) He had no upper half.
(c) His body was very thin.
(d) He terminated in the middle.

11. Before Sacks's cast was taken off, what did he dream that it was filled with?
(a) Someone else's leg.
(b) Air or rotting bones.
(c) A lacerated leg.
(d) Joy and concerto music.

12. In the quote from St. John of the Cross in Chapter Three, where does the light guide the man?
(a) To the place of unconditional love.
(b) To peaceful darkness.
(c) To the place of eternal peace.
(d) To the place where God was waiting for him.

13. What vital change in the world happened once Sacks moved out of his first hospital room?
(a) He was intimidated by the vastness of the world.
(b) He reinforced his individuality.
(c) He became part of a community again.
(d) He felt distant from the other patients though he had expected to feel closer.

14. Why was it so difficult for Sacks to take the first step?
(a) He felt that the physiotherapists were pressuring him.
(b) He had forgotten how to walk.
(c) He could not get his sense of balance.
(d) His feet felt too heavy to lift.

15. How has Sacks always liked to think of himself?
(a) As a risk-taker.
(b) As a humanitarian.
(c) As an explorer.
(d) As an inventor.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what does Sacks compare the coming revolution in neurology?

2. What word does Nietzsche use to describe the feeling that convalescence brings?

3. Why did Sacks sit looking out the window for hours on end?

4. Who, in Sacks's family, had worked closely with Head?

5. How must a person react to the abyss?

(see the answer keys)

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