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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What town's hospital was Sacks taken to first?
(a) Odda's.
(b) Oslo's.
(c) London's.
(d) Bergen's.

2. When was Studies in Neurology published?
(a) 1930.
(b) 1910.
(c) 1920.
(d) 1940.

3. What was the occasion for this book?
(a) An accident with peculiar effects.
(b) Reading a book about an unusual patient.
(c) The study of an unusual patient.
(d) An accident with expected effects.

4. In order to escape being caught on the mountain all night, what was the latest possible time Sacks could reach help?
(a) Six o'clock PM.
(b) Eight o'clock PM.
(c) Ten o'clock PM.
(d) Nine o'clock PM.

5. According to Sacks, why does he not end his story after his rescue?
(a) He had so many ideas left to convey.
(b) The book was not long enough to stop.
(c) The focus of the book is the recovery, not the accident.
(d) The accident is closely connected to the story of recovery.

Short Answer Questions

1. What book of the Bible does Sacks quote at the beginning of Chapter Three?

2. Who has written about the "occasions of poetry" (pg 9)?

3. How old was Sacks when he discovered the beauty of the world through the Pythagorean theorem?

4. How has Sacks written the book A Leg to Stand On?

5. Who inspired and encouraged Sacks to finish his book?

Short Essay Questions

1. What paradoxical command did Sacks find while he was in Limbo? How do you think this contrasted with his previous way of living?

2. To whom did Sacks dedicate the book A Leg to Stand On? Why might he have chosen this person?

3. How did Sacks treat the warning sign about the bull? What does this reveal about his attitude?

4. The night before his cast was taken off, Sacks repeatedly dreamed a nightmare. What was this nightmare? How did it reveal the conflict in his mind?

5. How does the quote at the beginning of Chapter Four compare to Sacks's own words which begin the chapter?

6. What was the life voice which Sacks heard on the mountain? How was this voice stronger than his circumstances?

7. Sacks discovered, to his horror, that his mental and moral boundaries had shrunk to the limits of the hospital. What does this mean? How did this differ from his mindset before the accident?

8. How does Sacks describe the bull? How does this description show his change of heart from the time he read the warning sign?

9. What did Sacks do when he finally wanted to escape the convalescent home? How did the woman he met treat him differently than the hospital nurses had?

10. What happened after Sacks tried to catch the bus outside the Kilburn pool? How did this exactly match his previous experiences?

(see the answer keys)

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