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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was the oddest thing that happened while Sacks's shoulder and arm were in a cast?
(a) They gave him constant pain.
(b) He forgot that he had ever had them.
(c) He could no longer feel their presence.
(d) Their nerve endings no longer responded to stimuli.

2. At the beginning of Chapter Four, what is the essence of William Harvey's questions?
(a) How much control does man have over his movements?
(b) What is the first cause of movement?
(c) What is the first cause of thought?
(d) What controls all bodily movements?

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

4. 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?
(a) St. Paul's Cathedral.
(b) Westminster Abbey.
(c) Buckingham Palace.
(d) St. Martin-in-the-Field.

5. While in limbo, what feeling did Sacks have to allow, which he first found humiliating?
(a) Inerrancy.
(b) Passivity.
(c) Inadequacy.
(d) Activity.

6. At what moment did Sacks's leg "return" to his body?
(a) When he remembered the rhythm of hiking up the mountain.
(b) When he had taken several steps.
(c) When he walked and felt sensation in it.
(d) When he heard Mendelssohn's music in his head.

7. When Sacks talks about the hole in memory and identity, what is he referring to (Afterword, pg 200)?
(a) A hole in the primary consciousness.
(b) A hole in his subconscious understanding of the world.
(c) A hole in his sense of selfhood.
(d) A hole in the higher-order consciousness.

8. As Sacks returned to his room, what was the weather like?
(a) Chilly and wet.
(b) Sunny and warm.
(c) Lightly snowing.
(d) Dark and stormy.

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

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

11. Sacks was excited about buying books written by a man named Head. What was the author's first name?
(a) Herbert.
(b) Howard.
(c) Henry.
(d) Hugo.

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

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

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

15. How did Sacks's knee return to its full functionality?
(a) He went through one week of therapy.
(b) He walked one mile a day.
(c) He stopped thinking about its physical movements.
(d) He was challenged to swim.

Short Answer Questions

1. If an outsider were to observe the patients at the convalescent home, what would he have seen?

2. What was the name of the convalescent home where Sacks recovered?

3. Why did Sacks find beauty as well as fear in darkness?

4. When Sacks gave thanks for his health and recovery, what was most important about that action?

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

(see the answer keys)

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