Manuscript Review Monday: The Testing

Decided to try my hand at a book review, because I needed a blog post and it was the first thing that came to mind. The book I'm reviewing is "The Testing", the first book in a Dystopian trilogy by Joelle Charbonneau. If you plan to read the book later and don't want spoilers, skip to the spoiler-free summary at the end.

Writing Style

The author's style of writing is different than most other first person writers I've read. Instead of being inside the main character's head, it feels more like you are reading their diary, getting a play by play of their life. I don't mind the style, but it feels a little out of place in a harsh Dystopian world. That mostly my personal preference though.

Characters

However thankful I am that the characters are not cliche, they lack a lot of depth and there is very little development inside the story. The fact that the main character gets her mind erased of nearly all the events of the book at the end undoes what little development there was. The book is very plot driven, making this less important, but I would have loved to see more depth to match the how the world has changed in this torn version of the future. The main character's personality can be summed up in one sentence: Her parents taught her morals, and she's trying to stick by these morals.
Apparently very few parents teach this these days, because every single other student at the Testing thought up (on their own) that it would be a good idea to kill the other students. In fact, they all decide this will improve their grades.

Plot

This is where it gets juicy. The book takes place in a similar type of future as the Hunger Games, (a 70% serving the 30% one, albeit in this one, the general public is not aware of it.) but this is not a huge concern. It's a classic Dystopian plot line, much like alien invasions in science fiction, and while not original, if the writing is good, it doesn't matter. Sadly, the similarities continue, and by the middle, anyone who has read Suzanne Collins popular series feels a little sense of deja-vu. The biggest problem I found with the plot is that things you know about the society simply don't add up. The book takes place a few generations after a war huge enough to make most of the planet uninhabitable. The civilization all the characters live in are the descendants of the survivors, who banded together to rebuild society. Very little description is given about the schools, but what you are told makes them seem similar to modern day public school. So by the end of the first few chapters, let's run down what we know about this society:

• Overall traditions and societal norms seem very similar to our own, the main differences coming from the significant decrease in access to technology.
• The smartest members of society are chosen to go to the testing, which will determine the next generation of leaders.

Sounds like everyone is working together to rebuild in the most efficient manner possible, right? Except, apparently some things are happening that few know about. Apparently a scientist, (Dr. Barnes father) came up with the idea that killing three fourths of the smartest people in the country would make better leaders, because the remaining 20 would be the best. That makes sense, that someone would be that stupid. What doesn't make sense is that everyone else agreed. So basically what I'm saying here is that there is a big issue with the back story, and it messes with the flow of the story. Ignoring this discrepancy, the plot flows very well, and all secrets are revealed at the right time to keep you turning the pages.

Summary: NO SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT
So overall, the writing style is one I am not a huge fan of, but the author has it developed enough that that didn't bother me at all, and the only thing she seems to has a problem doing is thinking completely through characters and plot. The book was okay, not something I would read again, but good. I will be reading the rest of the series, (I've already started the second book) and hopefully events in the next two books will sort out some of the unexplained back story. I will definitely be keeping an eye on the author's  future work. The writing talent is definitely there, and if she manages to master the difficult task of forming more elaborate worlds and compelling characters, her writing will be amazing.

Masterpiece Monday: Improvement

A little rushed, so a short post today. At one of my siblings suggestion, I redid a drawing I did nearly six years ago. Enjoy! (Hopefully I'll be posting more often now. Trying not to let this blog die.)

Can you guess which one is more recent?

Math and Sciences Monday: Cheaper by the Dozen (Also it's better mathematically)

As many of my friends know, I have long been (at least a year) an advocate for changing our number system to base twelve, or dozenal, as it is known by it's fans, and it's technical name being the duodecimal system, which is how it is addressed by smart people with degrees. The supporters for this cause are far and few between, and I know this for two reasons:

• Everyone I told about it either met me with a blank stare, or said it will never happen. 
• When I typed the word "dozenal" just now, spell check insisted it wasn't a word. 

So I have decided to compile a list of advantages of this new system, in addition to a (short) list of disadvantages.
First, you might need to know what base twelve is! We use the the decimal system, though it's often referred to as base ten. That means we count like this:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
The fact that it is base ten means that on the tenth number we add a zero, and so forth for every multiple of ten. We have ten digits in the system, (1-9 & 0) and to multiply by the base only requires adding a zero at the end. In base twelve, you count like this:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, ᘔ*(dek), Ɛ*(el), 10(doh)
Dek is equal to ten, el is equal to eleven, and doh is equal to twelve. So in base twelve, instead of multiplying by ten to add a zero, you multiply by doh, which is the mathematical decimal equivalent of twelve. For further reading on base twelve, I suggest you read the wikipedia article on it, or if you prefer to read something that doesn't sound or look like you need several degrees in mathematics to understand, there are plenty of articles and books that cover the basics and/or advanced ideas behind dozenal. If you're looking for the basics, watch Schoolhouse Rock's "Hey there little twelve-toes" or read the section on base twelve in Here's Looking at Euclid, by Alex Bellos[1]. If you prefer something a bit more complicated, or took my advice and did these things and want to continue, I suggest you read through Dozenal Society of America's (DSA) paper on basic mathematics using base twelve.
Now for the reasons to switch! But first off, because I believe in a fair fight, I will list every single reason that I could find to not switch to base twelve:

1. We have ten fingers (some argue this is ten reasons)
2. It will be too hard to transition

Tell me if I missed any, (I didn't) but these two reasons are really small hurdles to jump for the greater good of mathematics. I have now compiled a list of great reasons to switch to base twelve:

1. It works better mathematically, especially pertaining to divisors. Our current system, base 10, the base has two whole number divisors other than one and itself: 2 & 5. And what are the four easiest numbers to count by? Ones and tens, obviously. And then fives and twos, due to the fact they are divisors and ten, and more familiar and cohesive. Meanwhile, 12 has four divisors other than one and itself. So theoretically, if we switched to base twelve, anyone who learned basic mathematics could count by ones, twos, threes, fours, sixes, and twelves, as easily as people can count by fives using base ten.
2. It will make (a little) sense of why we don't use the metric system. I thought about making a table showing why, but it would probably just be better to make an entirely new measurement system when/if we switch bases.
3. Our current rite of passages pertaining to ages will be better divisible, and subsequently be easier to remember/make more sense. If you think about it, there are a few ages to consider that will be changing to better numbers. Thirteen, the age where you become a young adult, would be printed as 11, and is one higher than doh. This makes sense, considering the transition to young adult is now takes place at the same time as the transition to "the numbers beyond 10" (in this case "10" being "doh"), which is generally the number a young child would first learn to count to, their first milestone. Eighteen, the age in which someone becomes an adult, would now be printed as 16, and would be equal to a doh and a half. 
4. It pertains to our divisions of time. The number twelve being our base would improve our calender because of it's divisibility. I am now going to list our units of time, with it's base twelve equivalent in parentheses after each unit. There are 12(10) months in a year, with 30/31(26/27) days in each month most of the time. There are 7(7) days in a week. 24(20) hours in a day (which makes 12(10). 60(50) minutes in an hour. 60(50) seconds in a minute. Note how all things either become a cleaner rounder number (days in a month, hours in a day, minutes in an hour, seconds in a minute), or don't really change that much (days in a month, days in a week).

I hope to come up with more reasons later, (hopefully expand to a list of twelve) but that's all for now.

Masterpiece Monday: Heroscape Codex

So I've kind of been forgetting about my blog for the past couple weeks. (Okay, a month, but let's not dwell in the past.) I recently got involved in a project: an online magazine that is centered around the game Heroscape. (for those of you that don't know what Heroscape is, I suggest you go find out right now. Unless, of course, you hate games.) If you like to ignore orders given in parentheses, then I will give you a brief description of the game: It is the only board game I have ever played where a ninja can work together with a samurai to take down a mech, only to be caught by a massive army of gladiators led by Spartacus, and have to call in a back up of American revolutionaries and WWII paratroopers. And the board is a customizable 3D map. Now that you know about the game, you can understand why a large amount of it's fans were very unhappy about it's discontinuation. However, 4 years later, the game is still going strong due to a large and cohesive community of players.
Anyway, in this magazine I volunteered for, for am the Art Director and Co-Head and Editor of the Fan Art and Fiction section. If you like the Heroscape game, I suggest you download the latest issue of this magazine, (The Heroscape Codex) here:
Heroscapers.com - HS codex issue 2
In case you're curious, anywhere it says the name "Evar-Scarcarver" it's referring to me.

In other news, I recently got a Deviant Art account, so if you want, you can follow me on that site. My username is Evar-Scarcarver. (Noticing a trend with screen names anyone? Also, anyone notice how I might use parentheses a little too often?)

Today is not Monday

I have decided to make a post every week, to ensure that my blog does not continue to lie by the wayside and be useless. I will be posting in the form of:
Math and Sciences Monday (A post having to do with Math and/or Science)
Masterpiece Monday (I will post a piece of art, probably by me)
Music Monday (I will post a music related video/article/something else)
[anything else beginning with M] Monday (Pretty much anything I feel like posting)

That is all. You may continue with your regularly scheduled internet surfing.