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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. Where did Sacks finish writing his book?
(a) On a mountain in Nicaragua.
(b) In a village in Norway.
(c) In a meadow in New Yor.
(d) On a mountain in Costa Rica.

2. What analogy does Sacks refer to as he draws the relationship between science and art?
(a) Newton's apple.
(b) Galileo's earth.
(c) Archimedes' bathtub.
(d) Einstein's theory of relativity.

3. Why did the staff nurse laugh at Sacks when he arrived in his room?
(a) Because he told her a bawdy joke.
(b) Because he was joking about his cast.
(c) Because he had difficulty walking.
(d) Because he had packed fifty books and almost no clothes.

4. What did Sacks hope to see when he reached the mountain's summit?
(a) The temple at the top.
(b) A good view of the surrounding mountains.
(c) The bull that lived there.
(d) A good view of the city.

5. What book does Sacks model his own book after?
(a) The Man with the Shattered Arm.
(b) The Woman with the Shattered Dreams.
(c) The Man in the Shattered Hope.
(d) The Man with the Shattered World.

Short Answer Questions

1. What question did Sacks want to ask the surgeon before surgery?

2. What did Sacks find astonishing about his wound?

3. What town's hospital was Sacks taken to first?

4. What name did Sacks give his windowless hospital room?

5. Following the surgery, how did Sacks's cast fit his leg?

Short Essay Questions

1. A large portion of the horror Sacks felt in Limbo was the silence. What other time has Sacks experienced such deep silence? How does this connection contribute to Limbo?

2. Through what physical senses does Sacks reenter the world of men?

3. Who visited Sacks the evening after his operation? Why does he not mention these people again?

4. 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?

5. Sacks's description of the Caster, Mr. Enoch, is amusingly melodramatic and terrified. In your opinion, why was Sacks scared of Mr. Enoch?

6. How was Miss Preston, the physiotherapist, more understanding than the surgeon had been? How did her understanding still fall short of the problem?

7. What timeline does Sacks establish for the development of neurology? What is still lacking from this branch of science?

8. While descending the mountain, what vision did Sacks cling to? Why do you think this was the picture he chose?

9. How much time does Dr. Swan spend with Sacks prior to the operation? How does this foretell his interactions with Sacks following the operation?

10. What meals does Sacks describe most from his time in the hospital? What do these meals say about his frame of mind at each time?

(see the answer keys)

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