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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. The night before the operation, Sacks called up his family and friends. What did he tell them could happen if he were to die during the operation?
(a) They could publish anything from his notebooks that they saw fit.
(b) His property should be auctioned off.
(c) His valuable property should be donated to charity.
(d) His property should be divided fairly among his family.

2. What book does Sacks plan to write in the future?
(a) A book about how this accident affected his personal relationships in the long run.
(b) A book about how this accident affected his medical practice.
(c) A book about patients who experienced the same body-ego alienation that he did.
(d) A book about his long-term recovery.

3. What is the essential idea of Thomas Mann's quote?
(a) The mountain begrudges any human infiltration.
(b) The mountain is impersonal.
(c) Man can be stronger than the mountain.
(d) The mountain is hostile.

4. Who came up with the phrase "quickening art" which described Sacks's use of music to move down the mountain?
(a) Pavlov.
(b) Nietzsche.
(c) Harvey.
(d) Kant.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How long had Sacks been traveling when he came to the swollen stream?

2. What instrument did Sacks have for listening to music?

3. What was the primary reason that Sacks decided not to yell a second time?

4. What was Luria's response to Sacks's story?

5. What did Sacks think about as he moved down the mountain?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the detail from Sacks's journal explain? How does this excerpt capture the split between doctor and patient, which is captured in one person?

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

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

4. What advice did Sacks's maiden aunt give him? How does this advice come across on the printed page?

5. 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?

6. What did Sacks think when he saw his left leg for the first time in two weeks? How did his own thoughts tie into the doctor's summary of the recovery?

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

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

9. While Sacks was lying in his small hospital room, what happened to his eyes? How was this transformation similar to his leg's injury?

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

(see the answer keys)

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