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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. Whom does Harari name as the culprit behind the negative effects of the Agricultural Revolution on Homo sapiens?
(a) A handful of plant species.
(b) Religion.
(c) Monarchies.
(d) The merchant class.

2. Harari states that "for nearly the entire history of our species, Sapiens lived as" (40) what?
(a) Animals.
(b) A peaceful species.
(c) Foragers.
(d) Farmers.

3. Around what year did global warming melt the glaciers blocking the way from Alaska to the rest of America?
(a) 36,000 BC.
(b) 24,000 BC.
(c) 12,000 BC.
(d) 6,000 BC.

4. For what span of time did the "most durable human species ever" (6) survive?
(a) 2 million years.
(b) 50,000 years.
(c) 12 million years.
(d) 10 million years.

5. Harari asserts that "Prior to the Cognitive Revolution, humans of all species lived exclusively" (63) where?
(a) On the Austral-Asian landmass.
(b) On the landmass of the Americas.
(c) On the Afro-Asian landmass.
(d) On the Euro-Asian landmass.

Short Answer Questions

1. Before the transition to agriculture, earth was home to about how many nomadic foragers?

2. Harari asserts that "no noteworthy plant or animal has been domesticated in the last" (77) how many years?

3. The Code of Hammurabi served as a cooperation manual for hundreds of thousands of what?

4. How does Harari define elements of society such as prisons and concentration camps?

5. What sport does Harari use to demonstrate his point about a shared set of rules?

Short Essay Questions

1. What call to action does the author make regarding the hierarchy cycle?

2. Analyze Harari's use of the term “curtain of silence” (61) within his discussion of our limited understanding of human history.

3. What does the author name as the most important step in convincing people to believe a shared myth?

4. What is Harari's assessment of the opportunities created by sapiens' use of fictive language?

5. How does the author use the example about insects' wings to make his point about there being no single "natural" (147) way to live?

6. Harari uses his observation about foraging sapiens versus agricultural sapiens to support what larger claim within the book?

7. What is the author's claim concerning the luxury trap?

8. What is the author's definition of the word natural and how does he support his claim?

9. Discuss the significance of the author's focus on fictive language.

10. For what purpose does Harari make particular points about extinction in the final passages of Chapter Four?

(see the answer keys)

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