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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. ________, Pollan believes, is brutally reductive, simplifying nature's incomprehensible complexity to something humanly manageable.
(a) Chemistry.
(b) Sociology.
(c) Agriculture.
(d) Science.

2. Lenson points out that many people of the past tried to __________ the use of drugs by calling it imagination.
(a) Sanitize.
(b) Ignore.
(c) Laugh about.
(d) Discourage.

3. Until the mid-1970s, most of the marijuana in America was grown in _______ and was often sprayed with a pesticide paraquat.
(a) Canada.
(b) Mexico.
(c) Peru.
(d) America.

4. Dave Hjelle from Monstanto tells Pollan something that makes him a little concerned. He says, "______________."
(a) I'm worried too.
(b) No problem.
(c) It's problematic.
(d) Trust us.

5. The book suggests that the decisions that a culture makes in which plants drugs to promote or prohibit help to ______.
(a) Promote instability.
(b) Marginalize people.
(c) Reinforce cohesion.
(d) Make people feel bad.

Short Answer Questions

1. ______ has written two books claiming that consciousness changing is a basic human activity that even children seek out.

2. According to the book, the human penchant for drugs has allowed people to trip the brain's ______ system washing the brain in 'feel good' chemicals.

3. ____________ were the ones who seized land from the Irish, causing them to have meager plots of arable land on which to grow.

4. Where are the Monsanto headquarters located, according to Pollan's description in the book?

5. What is second nature to a gardener, who leans that every advance in his control of the garden is also an invitation for disaster?

Short Essay Questions

1. What might have happened if the police chief had seen the marijuana plant in Pollan's backyard?

2. What does Pollan believe the experience of the sublime has to do with the experience of nature?

3. What are the various ingredients which might be used in witches' spells?

4. What happens to the animal in the wild who decides to eat hallucinogens and thus takes in the toxins of these plants?

5. What are some of the reasons why potatoes were not very popular in Europe around the late 1500s?

6. Compare and contrast the tastes of plants which are supposed to be eaten with those which are not supposed to be eaten.

7. Where was marijuana primarily grown up until the early 1980s when the war on drugs began?

8. How does one begin to grow potatoes, according to Pollan in the book?

9. After a few days of drenching rain, what did the NewLeaf potato plants look like in Pollan's garden?

10. What is the rationale that Pollan gives for growing pot as he decides to do when it is not as much of a legal issue?

(see the answer keys)

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