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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Previous to his accident, how did Sacks think things were accomplished in the world?
(a) By reason and will.
(b) By sheer willpower.
(c) By love and understanding.
(d) By external impetus.

2. To what does Einstein compare creating a new theory?
(a) Tearing down a house to build a skyscraper.
(b) Climbing a mountain.
(c) Building a skyscraper.
(d) Rediscovering the world.

3. In Montaigne's words, who is a true doctor?
(a) The man who also understands art.
(b) The man who has experienced every illness he wants to cure.
(c) The man who can sympathize with his patients.
(d) The man who sees his patients as people rather than as problems.

4. How did one of the surgical registrars refer to being a patient?
(a) As a long trek into the light.
(b) As a test of patience.
(c) As a pilgrimage.
(d) As an opportunity.

5. When Sacks first entered into the field of neurology, what excited him most?
(a) The possibility for helping ill people.
(b) The challenge of learning the field.
(c) The fact that he would not perform surgery anymore.
(d) The challenge of concepts and abstractions.

6. What escapade did Sacks try to pull during his last night in the hospital?
(a) Climbing a ladder to the roof.
(b) Walking around the grounds unattended.
(c) Asking the night nurse out for a drink.
(d) Walking the edge of his second-story balcony.

7. On one particular September morning, why did Sacks deeply enjoy lighting his pipe?
(a) He thought he had never before had the leisure to light one.
(b) He was a smoker.
(c) The pipe fit into the scenery and his mood.
(d) He saw the pipe as a sign of returning health.

8. When moving out of his tiny hospital room, why did Sacks see the world as two-dimensional?
(a) The denervation process had also affected his eyes.
(b) His vision reflected his changed thinking.
(c) His field of vision had shrunk.
(d) The denervation process had affected only his left eye.

9. What is the most important reason for the young painter's misery?
(a) He knew he was dying and could not accept it.
(b) He could not hide his worsening illness.
(c) He was impatient for the moment of death.
(d) He could not hide his wish for death.

10. Why was it difficult for Sacks to proceed through the land of limbo?
(a) He had no traveling companions.
(b) He had no music.
(c) There was no God figure present.
(d) There was no map or chart.

11. What did Sacks hope to accomplish by reading Head's books?
(a) Understand how to prevent body alienation in the future.
(b) Receive illumination about his experiences.
(c) Learn the emotional intricacies of body alienation.
(d) Divert his thinking from his own past.

12. What was the name of the convalescent home where Sacks recovered?
(a) Because he is caught up in the intricacies of his disease.
(b) Because his mental faculties are not engaged in the world around him.
(c) Because his frame of reference has also shrunk.
(d) Because, if he has strong familial support, the world's shrinking does not matter.

13. How had Sacks tried to revive his left leg?
(a) By thinking it into being.
(b) By praying it into being.
(c) By wishing it into being.
(d) By intense therapy.

14. To what does Sacks compare the coming revolution in neurology?
(a) Galileo's discovery.
(b) The American Revolution.
(c) Newton's discovery.
(d) The French Revolution.

15. Montaigne, Kant, and Einstein all agree that there is no substitute for what?
(a) Experience.
(b) Science.
(c) Philosophy.
(d) Education.

Short Answer Questions

1. What tragedy did Darwin experience, which Sacks explains?

2. How many days did Sacks spend in limbo?

3. What happened to Sacks's writing style when he was forced to write with his left hand?

4. According to Sacks, what was "the only proper posture of the soul at this time" (Chapter Three, pg 113)?

5. What important concept did Sacks find in Kant's writing?

(see the answer keys)

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