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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What happened to Sacks's writing style when he was forced to write with his left hand?
(a) It became melodramatic.
(b) It became heavy-hearted.
(c) It became more concise.
(d) It became more verbose.

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

3. Why did Sacks sit looking out the window for hours on end?
(a) He was starved to look at anything green.
(b) He was realizing how cut off from life he was.
(c) He was tired of his hospital room.
(d) He was eager to see other people.

4. What important concept did Sacks find in Kant's writing?
(a) A living concept of time and space.
(b) A vivid concept of the body-ego connection.
(c) A traditional concept of man's relation to the world.
(d) A modern concept of personhood.

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

6. What advantage did the mystics and metaphysical poets offer?
(a) Hope without a specific religion.
(b) Vivid pictures of the abstract concepts which Sacks sought.
(c) Beautiful language to express hope.
(d) Deep expressions of despair.

7. What concerto did Sacks listen to on a cassette tape?
(a) Beethoven's Piano Concerto #5.
(b) Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto.
(c) Mozart's Flute Concerto No. 2 in D Major.
(d) Dvorak's Cello Concerto in B Minor.

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

9. What was Sacks's general opinion about the patients in the convalescent home?
(a) They were pretty knowledgeable about the world and their places in it.
(b) They were generally stupid and clueless.
(c) They were all smarter than the doctors.
(d) None of them had as compelling a story as he did.

10. What word does Nietzsche use to describe the feeling that convalescence brings?
(a) Intoxication.
(b) Calmness.
(c) Brightness.
(d) Inebriation.

11. 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 did not have enough money for the faster train.
(c) He wanted to begin reading Head's books.
(d) He wanted to enjoy life at a slow pace.

12. In the convalescent home, what did Sacks's first breakfast partner find amusing?
(a) The irony of their respective leg injuries.
(b) Sacks' situation.
(c) Everything about the world.
(d) The jokes of the serving nurses.

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

14. As the Sister took the stitches out of Sacks's leg, what did he think?
(a) That she was being gentle but the procedure still hurt.
(b) That she was not being gentle.
(c) That she was fiddling around.
(d) That he could not wait to go hiking again.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Sacks did not attend the memorial service for W. H. Auden because he thought he was too weak to travel. Where was this service held?

2. Why was it so difficult for Sacks to take the first step?

3. Following his second fall, how long did Sacks wait before surgery was performed

4. Why is the phrase "uneventful recovery" misleading?

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

(see the answer keys)

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