Thirty-Six Persian Throw Rugs Summary and Analysis

The first chapter is a brief introduction to Quammen's main subject, the division of the natural environment into isolated pieces that act as virtual islands. As a metaphor, he asks the reader to imagine a large and elaborate Persian rug that has been cut into thirty-six pieces. Each piece is equally complex and well made, but the overall pattern has been ruined and the edges begin to fray.

This fraying is analogous to the unraveling of ecosystems as they are divided into smaller and smaller pieces by deforestation, development, damming and other human activities. Understanding how these small ecosystems behave is therefore an important part of future conservation efforts, Quammen argues. We can better understand how they behave by looking at naturally small ecosystems, namely, islands.