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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. At the time of his speech in August, how old is Malcolm?

2. What is the profession of the person walking with Malcolm across the open courtyard after the lecture ends?

3. What does Malcolm insist is just a technomyth?

4. According to Malcolm's interpretation, what is located on the island that Levine believes houses Site B?

5. According to Malcolm, animals living and dying against a very active background of our planet accounts for what percentage of extinction?

Short Essay Questions

1. When the theory of evolution was first presented, there was very little debate. Why?

2. What do the members of Malcolm's audience have in common?

3. According to the Biosyn spy, why is Levine teaching a class at Woodside Junior High?

4. In the 1970s, why could no one answer questions regarding the fragility of the earth's ecosystem?

5. What is reductionism? Is it useful in complexity theory or not?

6. Why does Levine hire Kelly and Arby to run errands for him?

7. Why, in Malcolm's opinion, is his extinction theory untestable?

8. Why is Jack Thorne, who was once a Stanford professor, much happier away from academia?

9. A statue of a raptor is outside the biology department at the university where Malcolm works. Why does Malcolm think the statue of the velociraptor is insulting to the raptor?

10. What is the "Edge of Chaos"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Richard Levine at the beginning of the book - the man whose overriding goal is to discover the lost world. What is his motivation? What drives him? Then, discuss the frightened and timid Levine in the middle of the book - the man who wants to lock doors and hide from the dinosaurs. What is his motivation? What drives him? How do the events that happen between these two personalities change Levine from the dreamer to the realist? Who is Levine at the end of the book? Why?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast Ian Malcolm and Richard Levine.

a. How are the two characters similar? How are they different?

b. Compare the role of that complexity theory plays in each of their lives. How is each character affected by this theory - both positively and negatively?

Essay Topic 3

There are many people who travel to Isla Sorna who do not leave Isla Sorna. Identify at least three people killed on the island. Compare and contrast each of these deaths being sure to indicate which character died, how the character died, and what impact on the overall plot the character's death had. What could have - or should have - been learned from each of these deaths by the island's survivors?

(see the answer keys)

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