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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 was the main injury that Sacks was able to identify?
(a) An artery was torn.
(b) The quadriceps was paralyzed.
(c) The leg was becoming horribly discolored.
(d) His femur was broken.

2. The night after his surgery, what was the first of Sacks's nightmares?
(a) He was again on the Mountain and his leg had lost all its nerves.
(b) He was being trampled by a fish with hooves.
(c) He was running from the bull but could not move anywhere.
(d) His injured leg was made of marble and he could not lift it.

3. After a temporary cast was put on the leg, what dream did Sacks have?
(a) The leg was made of bricks and mortar.
(b) The leg was being squeezed in a vice.
(c) The leg was covered with a layer of steel.
(d) The leg was made of cloud vapor.

4. What was Sacks doing when he was finally able to piece together his thoughts?
(a) Riding in a car from Annapolis to New York.
(b) Driving from Washington, D.C. to Boston.
(c) Riding a train from Philadelphia to New York.
(d) Riding a train from Boston to New York.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Why did Sacks have strong legs?

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

3. Who wrote the book which was the model for Sacks's own book?

4. In order to escape being caught on the mountain all night, what was the latest possible time Sacks could reach help?

5. When the father and his son rescued Sacks, what had they been doing just a moment before?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Sacks's right arm and shoulder were immobilized, what happened? What did this tell him about a person's body image?

2. How does Sacks describe his first few steps? How might this description be applied to another time in life, one which has never been described?

3. 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?

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

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

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 obvious differences existed between the injuries in Sacks's left leg and his right leg? What was the difference in their effects?

8. What is the most basic purpose of classical neurology? As can be inferred from the purpose of Sacks's book, how does classical neurology fall short?

9. How did Sacks become the music which he heard in his head? How might this have saved him?

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

(see the answer keys)

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