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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through The Man Who Knew Islands.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When does Quammen say his field became a field of inquiry?
(a) With Quammen.
(b) With Alfred Wallace.
(c) With Darwin.
(d) With MacArthur and Wilson.

2. How does Quammen find fault with other scientists studying extinctions?
(a) By saying that their vocabulary is insufficient to the problems.
(b) By saying that their nostalgia clouds their findings.
(c) By saying that their fundamental premises were ungrounded.
(d) By saying that they have only been talking to each other.

3. What literary device describes the questions David Quammen asks about the rug?
(a) Rhetorical question.
(b) Aopstrophe.
(c) Sarcasm.
(d) Leading question.

4. What does David Quammen invoke as he describes cutting the rug?
(a) The joy of the scissors.
(b) The dissolution of the design.
(c) The despair of the threads.
(d) The outrage of the rug weavers.

5. What does Quammen say makes his field important?
(a) Because island ecosystems are a good metaphor for ecosystems as a whole.
(b) Because it accounts for events other fields cannot account for.
(c) Because it has predicted recent phenomena.
(d) Because it is holistic and global in scope.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the term that encompasses David Quammen's overall idea?

2. What is the genre of The Song of the Dodo?

3. What is the literary term that describes Quammen's addressing the reader directly?

4. Where did Wallace travel after the Amazon?

5. What literary term describes Quammen's use of the image of the Persian rug?

(see the answer key)

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