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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. What evidence did Wallace site to suggest problems with the special creation theory?
(a) That human beings could be found in every climate.
(b) That some ecological niches went unfilled.
(c) That species had adapted to every different environment on earth.
(d) That when species were displaced, they sometimes thrived in the new territory.

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

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

4. How many pieces does Quammen ask the reader to imagine the rug being cut into?
(a) 144.
(b) 36.
(c) 6.
(d) 12.

5. What does Quammen say about the overall pattern on this hypothetical rug?
(a) It only exists in nostalgia.
(b) It is ruined.
(c) It can still be reassembled.
(d) It is theoretical, now.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. How did Wallace put Darwin in a tough spot, according to Quammen?

3. What function does the first chapter serve?

4. What is the first example Quammen cites of a species that has gone extinct?

5. What question does Quammen say was debated for years after Darwin's theories were published?

(see the answer key)

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