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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 more verbose.
(c) It became heavy-hearted.
(d) It became more concise.

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

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

4. How many days did Sacks spend in his small hospital room?
(a) Twenty.
(b) Thirty.
(c) Twelve.
(d) Eight.

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

6. What reason did Sacks give for hating any creature with health?
(a) After everything he went through, he deserved it.
(b) It was one step along the road to recovery.
(c) It was the sickness speaking.
(d) The healthy creatures could not understand him.

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

8. In the quote about patient waiting, why must the person not think?
(a) He must combine hope and thought.
(b) He is not ready for thought.
(c) He must combine love and thought.
(d) He is not strong enough for thought.

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

10. In Chapter Five, Sacks quotes poetry to explain the importance of music: "You are the music/ While the music lasts." Who wrote these lines?
(a) St. John of the Cross.
(b) Kant.
(c) Nietzsche.
(d) Eliot.

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

12. What group of people did Weir Mitchell write about?
(a) The patients in his New York clinic.
(b) Healthy Korean veterans.
(c) Wounded Civil War veterans.
(d) Wounded WWII veterans.

13. Why was Sacks sent to a convalescent home before going home?
(a) He was not strong enough to go home.
(b) His family did not think he was ready to come home.
(c) Patients had to be reacclimated to the world.
(d) He could not bear the idea of reentering the world.

14. What problem did Sacks find with Leontev and Zaporozhet's book?
(a) The authors did not analyze the data they created.
(b) The authors did not interview enough patients.
(c) The authors did not move beyond systematic analysis.
(d) The book was not written cohesively.

15. 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.

Short Answer Questions

1. What escapade did Sacks try to pull during his last night in the hospital?

2. Sacks references a chapter in Luria's book The Man with a Shattered World that profoundly affected his thoughts about recovery. What was the name of this chapter?

3. What two sounds was Sacks caught between?

4. The day that Sacks moved out of his first hospital room, how far did he walk?

5. As the Sister took the stitches out of Sacks's leg, what did he think?

(see the answer keys)

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