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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

3. Why did Sacks find beauty as well as fear in darkness?
(a) There was hope for an end.
(b) The darkness was guided by God.
(c) There was hope for a new light.
(d) The darkness was part of human experience.

4. Before he took a step, what visual problem did Sacks have?
(a) He could not distinguish colors.
(b) The floor looked closer than it actually was.
(c) He could not see his feet.
(d) He could not judge objects or distances.

5. Why is the phrase "uneventful recovery" misleading?
(a) Recovery is actually a series of events.
(b) Recovery is the greatest event of the patient's life.
(c) Recovery has no relationship to events.
(d) The phrase implies a peaceful recovery, which is never possible.

6. If an outsider were to observe the patients at the convalescent home, what would he have seen?
(a) Depth and secrecy.
(b) Darkness and secrecy.
(c) Lightheartedness and frivolity.
(d) Artificial friendships.

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

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

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

10. What colors were the Head books which Sacks bought?
(a) Green and red.
(b) Red and white.
(c) Yellow and purple.
(d) Black and white.

11. When Sacks gave thanks for his health and recovery, what was most important about that action?
(a) The deity to whom he addressed his thanks.
(b) The words he used to express his thoughts.
(c) The amount of thankfulness he actually felt.
(d) The feeling of humility and gratefulness.

12. Why could Head not explain the poetry of music and movement the way he felt it?
(a) He could only explain the poetry in scientific terms.
(b) He was essentially a scientist.
(c) He did not feel music and movement very deeply.
(d) He had a limited capacity for expressing himself to others.

13. For people with hemi-inattention, what does "anosognosis" mean?
(a) Inability to communicate physical distress.
(b) Unawareness that they are neglecting one half of their bodies.
(c) Inability to communicate language confusion.
(d) Unawareness of their physical bodies.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. In the quote from St. John of the Cross in Chapter Three, where does the light guide the man?

2. Previous to this injury, when Sacks had had electrical currents applied to his injured neck muscles, what happened?

3. When Sacks first entered into the field of neurology, what excited him most?

4. According to Kant, how does a man stand in relation to the world?

5. What was Sacks's general opinion about the patients in the convalescent home?

(see the answer keys)

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