View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Previous to this injury, when Sacks had had electrical currents applied to his injured neck muscles, what happened?
(a) His neck muscles immediately relaxed.
(b) He felt shooting pains in his back.
(c) His neck muscles had remained tense and nearly immobile.
(d) He had the undeniable impulse to shrug.

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

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

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

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

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

7. In the hospital gardens, what set patients off from non-patients?
(a) Their demeanor of illness.
(b) Their white hospital gowns.
(c) Their attitude toward other people.
(d) Their various bandages and stitches.

8. Once the cast was removed, Sacks gingerly touched his leg. How did it feel?
(a) Like flesh.
(b) Like marble.
(c) Like pudding.
(d) Like wax.

9. How must a person react to the abyss?
(a) Skirt its edge without falling in.
(b) Either face it or walk away.
(c) Search it for answers.
(d) Ignore it.

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

11. How many days did Sacks spend in limbo?
(a) Four.
(b) Ten.
(c) Twenty-eight.
(d) Twelve.

12. Why were the set times and limits at the convalescent home important?
(a) They kept the patients from drifting into chaos or passivity.
(b) They kept the patients from getting into mischief.
(c) They kept the patients from reconnecting to the world too early.
(d) They showed the patients who held the power.

13. When did Sacks suffer his second fall?
(a) March 1983.
(b) November 1984.
(c) January 1984.
(d) December 1982.

14. Following his second fall, how long did Sacks wait before surgery was performed
(a) Two hours.
(b) Eight hours.
(c) Three hours.
(d) Half an hour.

15. 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 thought?
(c) What is the first cause of movement?
(d) What controls all bodily movements?

Short Answer Questions

1. Why could Head not explain the poetry of music and movement the way he felt it?

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

3. How did one of the surgical registrars refer to being a patient?

4. How has Sacks always liked to think of himself?

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

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 604 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample