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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 other word is connoted by the word "hell"?
(a) Hellish.
(b) Helplessness.
(c) Help.
(d) Hole.

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

3. While waiting for villagers to arrive and take him to the hospital, how did Sacks feel?
(a) Thrilled to be alive.
(b) Anxious.
(c) Worried about the doctor's prognosis.
(d) Comfortable and happy.

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

5. What did Sacks feel as he was being admitted to the hospital?
(a) That he was approaching the gallows.
(b) That he was finally reaching a place of hope.
(c) That he was reaching the purity of non-being.
(d) That he was losing his humanity and individuality.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Sacks experience with the father and son, which he had not experienced all day?

2. What would happen if Sacks were not found by nightfall?

3. Since his accident, what has Sacks been aware of?

4. What book does Sacks plan to write in the future?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. During the late afternoon, what silence did Sacks experience? Why was this terrifying?

2. What is anosognosis? What problem does this state present to medical researchers?

3. When touching his left leg for the first time after surgery, what did Sacks feel? How does his description of this moment pave the way for the truth about the leg?

4. 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?

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

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

7. 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?

8. Sacks notes that "body-image is dynamic and plastic" (Afterword, pg 194). What does this mean?

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

10. 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?

(see the answer keys)

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