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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. What spurred significant advances in biological science?

2. What's the last thing Lt. Comcoe hears from the radio?

3. What does their nighttime surveillance reveal?

4. What does Manchek do after he finishes the call with Jagger?

5. What doesn't the government tell Stone about Scoop?

Short Essay Questions

1. The author states his theme that crises are made up of human personalities. How does he introduce his characters?

2. Write about the procedure the three planes used to look at and take pictures of Piedmont and the capability of the scavenger spy plane.

3. Explain why the government agreed to extend funds and build Wildfire?

4. What are the protocols Leavitt personally put into place for Wildfire?

5. What is it about the narration, the characters and the plot thus revealed that makes you want to read further?

6. Describe Dr. Burton as he rides in the helicopter with Dr. Stone going to Piedmont. Tell a little of his background in science.

7. Write about the first pages of the book and what the author does to grab the reader's attention.

8. Describe the chain of events, in Stone's mind that has lead up to project Wildfire.

9. Describe the Odd Man Hypothesis. Do you think it's a good idea?

10. What does Manchek do after reviewing the intelligence with Jagger?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In this book the government had several "top secret" projects of which few of its citizens were knowledgeable. Do you think this is okay for the government to do? Do you believe that the government should keep secrets from the people? Why or why not? Do you think the government should have first access to all technology? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

The folly of trusting automated processing above human supervision is first shown by the printer jam early in the book, and yet many of our systems, from communications to financial are automated or at least depend heavily upon computers and other machines. Do you think it's reasonable for humans to rely so heavily upon "machines?" Describe the advantages and disadvantages of such a dependence.

Essay Topic 3

The process of "decontaminating" the body is almost inherently self-hating. It is as if Jeremy Stone, who designed the Wildfire decontamination process, believes human bodies are loathsome and dirty. Visualize a world where everyone thought this. How would humans interact? What type of emotions do you think humans would develop? How would reproduction occur? If you stepped into a world in the future where the human body was considered loathsome and dirty, where no one would get close to another person, how would you feel? What would you do?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,702 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample